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The Future Tenses 



OF 



The Blessed Life. 



/■ 



F. B. MEYER, B. A. 



AUTHOR OF 

if The Present Tenses of the Blessed Life" ; 
"Christian Living" ; "The Shepherd Psalm" 

ETC, ETC. 



/j 3s & y 

Fleming H. Revell Company, 

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148 and 150 Madison St. 30 Union Square, East. 

Publishers of Evangelical Literature. 



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Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1892, by 
FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY, in the Office of the 
Librarian of Congress at Washington, D. C. 







PREFACE. 



THE e y e gets strained with peering into the un- 
known. We cannot penetrate the vail which 
the Father hangs over coming days, as the light 
gauze of mist over the gaunt hills, or the smiling 
pasture-lands. 

It is better not to know. The joy hidden in the 
years would unfit us for common tasks; whilst the 
dread, apart from the sight of His all-sufficient 
grace, that awaits to succor us, would paralyze. It 
is His mercy that puts its hand over our eyes. 

But if, by the constitution of our minds, we must 
anticipate the future, then let us believe that it is 
radiant with His presence, filling each moment to it s 
outermost rim. No day, whatever it takes, can de- 
prive us of Him. Each day will utter to the next 
some speech of His love. All the days linked to- 
gether, and entwined with His present grace, will 
make a golden chain of holy and blessed living. 

F. B. MEYER. 



CONTENTS. 



I. A Cluster of Grapes 

II. Kept and Watered 

III. For Easter Morning 

IV. Waiting 

V. Guidance and Glory 

VI. A Door of Hope 

VII. "Hewilldoit" 

VIII. Morning Help 

IX. Claiming and Reckoning 

X. Death, the Gate of Life 

XI. What the Man can be 



PAGE 

. 7 

20 

. 32 

42 

, 56 

72 

■ 84 

98 

. 108 

124 

146 



THE FUTURE TENSES OF THE 
BLESSED LIFE. 

I. 

a Cluster of ©rapes* 

"The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is 
mighty; He will save, He will rejoice over thee with 
joy; He will rest in his love; He will joy over thee 
with singing." Zeph. iii. 17 

T^HESE words sparkle as the rim of 
the ocean does when, though clouds 
brood dense overhead, the sun shines 
far out at sea. They were primarily 
addressed to the daughter of Zion, to 
Israel the chosen people; and they 
undoubtedly foreshadow blessings 
which are yet to be realized. Ten 
times over in this chapter God as- 
sures His people of what He will 



H Cluster of ©rapes. 



most certainly do on their behalf. 

But a much wider circle than the 
chosen race may appropriate the bless- 
ed comfort of these words. They who 
are of the faith of Abraham are reck- 
oned children of Abraham, and are 
therefore justified in claiming their 
share in the blessings promised to 
all the seed; "not to that only which 
is of the law, but to that also which 
is of faith. ■' If you believe on Him 
"who quickeneth the dead, and calleth 
these things which be not as though 
they were," then draw near and drink 
deep draughts of rest and grace from 
these wells of sacred promise. 

Twice over in this paragraph we 
are told that the Lord, the King of 
Israel, is in the midst of His people. 
This is an indisputable fact. He is in 
the midst of His church, so that it 
shall not be moved; though the waves 
around roar and be troubled, beating 
themselves into yeasty foam and 



"Cbrtst m us," 9 



clouds of spray. But He is also in 
the midst of our individual being. We 
have been so strengthened by the 
spirit in the inner man, that Christ 
dwells in our hearts by faith. At the 
moment of regeneration God becomes, 
in the person of His Son, and through 
the work of the Holy Ghost, resident 
in those who believe. Thencefor- 
ward they are His holy temples and 
those ever-memorable words are real- 
ized in their experience, "We will 
come unto him, and make our abode 
with him." 

Well would it be if each Christian 
were to devote some portion, how- 
ever brief, in each day, to meditation 
upon this marvellous fact. "The mighty 
God, the King, is in the midst of me. 
I am God-tenanted, God-possessed. 
The High and Holy One who inhabit- 
eth eternity has taken up His abode 
in my heart." And this marvellous 
indwelling — more wonderful than if 



io b Cluster of ©rapes, 

an angel were to indwell an emmet 
or humming-bird— is not dependent 
on frames or feelings or aught in us; 
but endures through all our changes 
and fluctuations unto the eternal ages. 

But if the mighty God is indeed in 
us, why is there so much weakness 
and failure in our lives? why have we 
so little to show for this marvellous 
possession? Alas! the answer is not 
far to seek — we have limited the Holy 
One of Israel. He has been in the 
midst of us as a man astonied, and as a 
mighty man that cannot save; be- 
cause our backslidings have been 
many, and we have sinned against 
Him (Jer. xiv. 17-8.) 

In olden days, amid the Roman 
forum, there was a little brooklet, 
called the Girls' Fountain, which sang 
merrily as it broke into the .light, and 
passed on its way toward the yellow 
Tiber. For centuries, however, it was 
lost sight of; not that it had ceased 



Ube "(Biris' fountain," n 

to exist, but that it had become cover- 
ed and almost choked by tons of rub- 
bish, accumulated thickly on the spot, 
as the proud city was subjected to 
repeated and ruthless violence at the 
hands of many spoilers. But when in 
recent years the debris was removed, 
that fountain, so long choked and 
hindered, freed from all restraints, 
again took up her song and recom- 
menced her useful ministry. Is not 
that a type of the work of the Mighty 
One within us? He has not left us;but 
His gracious power, which would have 
been put forth in us and for us, has been 
rendered almost inoperative and dead. 
What now shall hinder us ridding our- 
selves of all which has hindered Him 
from doing His mighty works so that 
He may do that which He so much 
loves, and which we so much need? 

Then we may expect Him to accom- 
plish the four blessed "I wills" of this 
precious verse. 



12 H Cluster of ©rapes. 

"He will save" — As God took the 
side of His people against their foes, 
and will do so again in the final strug- 
gle, when His feet shall stand upon the 
Mount of Olives, so will He take our 
side against our sins. He has saved us 
from the penalty of sin; He will also 
save us from its power. As we look 
back on a finished salvation, accom- 
plished for us on the cross, so we may 
confidently look forward to a sufficient 
salvation along the entire course of 
our future life, till we enter the City 
whose walls are salvation and its gates 
praise. 

Your foes may be numerous as the 
devils in hell, strong and wily; but 
He will save. Your temperament 
may be as susceptible to temptation 
as an aspen-leaf is to the wind; but 
He will save. Your past years, by 
repeated acts of indulgence, may have 
formed habits strong as iron bands; 
but He will save. Your circumstances 



"*>e will Save," 13 

and companions may be most un- 
favorable to a life of victory; but He 
will save. Difficulties are nought to 
Him; the darkness shineth as the day. 
It were rank blasphemy to suppose 
that our Creator could have given us 
a body which He could not keep; or 
have placed us in circumstance in 
which He could not restrain. Is it 
not written, without a single hint at 
limitation or reserve? — "He shall save 
His people from their sins." And 
shall He not do so? 

If there be, therefore, perpetual 
failure in your life, it cannot arise 
from any weakness or impotence in 
the Mighty God; but from some fail- 
ure on your part. That failure may 
probably be discovered in one of three 
hiding places — imperfect surrender; 
deficient faith; or neglected com- 
munion. But when the intention of 
the soul is right with God, without 
doubt He Will Save. 



14 H Cluster of ©rapes. 

11 He will rejoice over thee with joy ." 
— The great evangelic prophet gives 
the key to understand this promise 
when he says, "As the bridegroom 
rejoiceth over the bride, so shalt thy 
God rejoice over thee." It is very won- 
derful that the Holy Spirit should 
choose metaphor. Plato held that 
love is the attraction to each other 
of twin souls, made each for the 
other, and moving towards each 
other; until each finds in the other the 
completement and supply of the needs 
of its own nature. As we need 
God, so does God need us. There is 
something in us which satisfies Him, 
and without which His nature would 
not be perfectly content. 

Here is a marvel, at the brink of 
which the first-born sons of light stand 
bewildered ! How then can we fathom 
it? We can understand better how 
He came to create, redeem, regener- 
ate, and pity us; but that He should 



"1foe will IRejoice/' 15 

need us as the bridegroom needs the 
bride — who shall understand this? We 
should have thought that our sin would 
alienate Him from us for ever. But 
His yearning for us is greater than 
His hatred of our sin. And He will 
expend infinite pains to rid us of the 
evil that clings to us, that He may 
have us for Himself forever 

And when the long suspense is over 
and the weary years of waiting have 
passed by, and He presents us to Him- 
self, as a bride adorned for her hus- 
band, without spot, or wrinkle, or any 
such thing, amid the over-whelming 
gladness of that hour for us, there will 
be realized on His part "the joy that 
was set before Him;" for which He 
endured the cross and despised the 
shame; and He will be abundantly 
satisfied. He will rejoice over us 
with joy. 

He will Rest in His Love — The 
margin suggests an exquisite alter- 



1 6 H Cluster of ©rapes* 

native, "He will be silent in His love." 
Of old the Psalmist said that his soul 
was silent in its calm expectancy for 
God's salvation. Here we are told 
that God is silent in His brooding 
tenderness. 

All the deepest emotion is silent. 
That which is superficial can easily 
find words in which to express itself; 
but whatever touches the depths of 
our being is inexpressible. Deep 
waters run still. Hence it is that the 
apostle speaks of joy unspeakable; 
of peace that passeth all understand- 
ing; of things which eye hath not seen, 
nor ear heard, nor the heart of man 
conceived. When we are told, then, 
that God's love will be a silent one, 
we know that it is too intense, too 
deep, too infinite to find expression. 

Such love is ours now, and will be 
ours forever. "The Father Himself 
loveth you." "He that loveth Me 
shall be loved of My Father, and I 



"1bz will jos over tbee/' 17 

will love him." All earthly love may 
ebb away from us, subsiding as a tide 
down the beach; all that is lovable 
and attractive in our outward estate 
may perish; life may seem drear, and 
desolate, and silent; but over all the 
love of God will arch as the blue sky 
over earth. It is a mistake to be ever 
asking for expressions from love like 
this. Be content to know and be- 
lieve it; to rest in it; to lie back on 
those everlasting arms; to look up in 
that tender face. It will break silence 
presently; but in the meanwhile be 
still, and know that God is love. There 
is exquisite grace and meaning in the 
words of the spouse, "I charge you, 
O! ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the 
roes and by the hinds of the field, that 
ye stir not up, nor awaken my love, 
till he please." 

He will Joy over thee with Singing. 
— It is much to hear a lark sing, as if 
its throat must be torn by the torrent 



H Cluster of ©rapes. 



of melody; more to hear a child sing 
as it comes down a woodland path in 
spring, chequered with sunlight falling 
on blue hyacinths and yellow prim- 
roses; more still to hear an angel sing, 
as the lone messenger of God breaks 
into melody to cheer himself on some 
distant journey from the Home of 
Song; more still to have heard our 
Saviour sing in the days of His earthly 
ministry, when He joined His disciples 
in the Jewish Hallel; but what will 
it not be when the great God Himself 
breaks into song, to celebrate an ac- 
complished work, an emancipated 
world, a redeemed race, a Bride won 
for His Son! 

Ah! there are great times coming — 
even now they are being prepared! 
Creation is yet to witness scenes of 
which her fairest pageants are but fad- 
ing symbols! She shall yet become an 
orchestra from which songs shall arise 
throughout all ages. The new song is 



"1foe will |0£ over thee/' 19 

being rehearsed but ere long it shall 
be rendered by ten thousand times ten 
thousand blessed rejoicing spirits; and 
amid all, leading all, pervading all, 
bearing all upwards and forwards, 
will be heard the voice of the Eternal, 
as He rejoices over us with singing! 
Hallelujah! 



II. 
IRept an& Materefc. 

"I the Lord do keep it; I will water it every mo- 
ment; lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and 
day." Isa. xxvii. 17 

\ 17 HEN God fences a soul out of the 
world in order to till it, and make 
it bear fruit to Himself, He does not 
leave it to go back into a waiste. He 
keeps it. 

A vineyard will engross the whole 
of a man's time— perhaps the time 
of many men. The nourishing of 
the soil, the pruning of the branches, 
the syringing of the leaves, the thin- 
ing of the grapes, the support of the 
heavy clusters — all demand constant 
and assiduous care. There is a tend- 



"T Mill Keep/' 21 

ency in all cultivated things to go back 
to their original type. 

However it may be made to agree 
with the modern ideas of development 
and evolution, it is nevertheless a fact 
that the fairest results of human skill 
are not in themselves permanent; but 
tend ever backward to the rudest and 
simplest forms of their species — the 
apple tree to the crab, the vine of 
Sorek to the wild vine of the hills. 
Therefore the keeper of the vineyard 
is ever engaged in going to and fro on 
the narrow paths, fighting every tend- 
ency towards deterioration with un- 
wavering patience. He keeps his vine- 
yard. And when the harvest of the 
fruit is near, he is more than ever 
watchful against the little foxes on the 
one hand, and the pillaging Bedouin 
on the other. 

With similar care, but much more 
watchful tenderness, our God is ever 
watching over us. With eager eyes 



22 iftept anfc Materefc, 

He marks the slightest sign of deterior- 
ation — -a hardening conscience; a dead- 
ening spirituality; a waning love. 
Any symptom of this sort fills Him 
with — if I may use the words — keen 
anxiety; and His gentle but skilful 
hand is at once at work to arrest the 
evil, restore the soul and force it on- 
ward to new accessions of that Divine 
life which is our only true bliss and 
rest. 

Let us not carry the responsibility 
of our nurture. It is too much for 
us. Better far is it to devolve the care 
of our keeping on our faithful Creator, 
who has made, and who will bear 
and keep; who is more eager for our 
sanctification than we can be; and 
who, with unslumbering care, keeps 
His purchased possession. 

But notice, the verse says, "I will 
keep it night and day." How price- 
less is that assurance! The present 
tense is sweet, but sweeter still the 



"1be is Hble," 23 

future. By night, ill dreams may 
hover near, with their befouling touch, 
like vampire bats with their silent 
wing but deadly bite; but — "I will 
keep." By day, evil spirits may haunt 
the steps, determined, if possible, 
to entangle in wiles, or bear down by 
force; but — "I will keep." Without, 
there may be incessant persecution 
and opposition; but — "/ will keep" 
Within, there may be the constant 
tendencv to deteriorate; but — "I will 
keep" Under dark skies and bright 
ones; in all times of prosperity and 
adversity, of weal or woe; in the hour 
of death and in the day of judgment — 

"I WILL KEEP." 

Many of God's saints are troubled 
with the dread of failing away, and of 
never reaching the Golden city on 
which they have set their hearts. 
They forget that He has promised to 
keep; to preserve from all evil; to en- 
viron with His protection; to escort 



24 Ikept an& Watered 

to glory; to bring them safe home! 
Did they only realize the full meaning 
of these precious words, they would 
take their harps from the willows, and 
sing some s'.ch psalm as that which 
the pilgrims sang amid the dangers of 
their ascent to the holy city and tem- 
ple, of the keeping power of God (Psa. 
cxxi.); and they would burst out with 
that glorious assurance of the great 
Apostle, who had put God to the test 
as few men have had the opportunity 
of doing; "I know whom I have be- 
lieved, and am persuaded that He is 
able to keep that which I have com 
mitted unto Him against that day" 
(2 Tim.i: i). 

He is able to keep, therefore He will 
keep. You may have inherited a nature 
whose whole bent is toward evil; but 
He is able to keep, and He will keep! 
It is impossible to believe for one 
moment that He would entrust to any 
of us a disposition which could not be 



Ube Ikes of Faitb, 25 



tamed and trained by Him. You may 
have encouraged your evil tendencies 
by repeated indulgence, so that the 
track is well-trodden towards sin; but 
He is able to keep, and He will keep! 
He can make the Niagara leap back- 
ward; the unbroken flow of the river 
cease; and the ocean-waves congeal 
and cleave. You may have, in the 
clear call of duty, to spend your days 
in a place where everything is against 
godliness and righteousness of life, 
and the air is tainted with impurity 
and blasphemy; but even there He is 
able to keep, and He will keep! No 
fortifications, however weak; no panic- 
stricken heart, however fearful; no 
misgivings, however weary — can in- 
validate the power of Him who patrols 
the words to keep His property, lest 
any hurt it night or day. 

It is beyond all question that He 
will not suffer Himself to be deprived 
of the results of His blood-shedding. 



26 iRept an& Watered 

He has expended too much on us to 
be defrauded now. He is too deeply 
involved to dare to seek to extricate 
Himself. He is like some millionaire, 
largely implicated in some financial 
speculation, which is not perfectly 
safe; and who is therefore compelled 
to go on putting in more and more 
capital, until the corner is turned, and 
the whole investment placed beyond 
the risk of loss. For His honor's sake, 
for His blood's sake, for His Son's 
sake, He is bound to keep. 

But His keeping power is not ex- 
ercised apart from us, or in spite of its. 
It is coincident with our faith. The 
Bible is full of promises, which in 
many cases are evidently unfulfilled, 
not because of any failure on God's 
part, but because we will not turn the 
golden key of Faith in the wards of 
Promise. Christ Himself, however 
willing, cannot do mighty works where 



"j£\>er£ /iDoment," 27 

there is unbelief. It is not even 
enough to pray for God's keeping 
power; we must claim it. I was much 
helped the other day by a young man 
saying. "I used to pray to God to 
keep me, and I was not kept; I now 
claim His keeping each morning, and 
thank Him for it, and I have learned 
the secret of victory." 

Yes, it is a true distinction. There 
may be much prayer without the faith 
that claims. But where there is the 
presence of such faith, small as a grain 
of mustard-seed, slight as the trace of 
ozone in the air, it carries with it an 
open sesame to all God's treasures, 
and notably to all the tenderness and 
sufficiency of His keeping power. 

Let us bind his promise on our 
hearts as we descend each day into 
the arena of life, dreading the onset 
of men as wild beasts, and despairing 
of remaining steadfast or unmoved. 
Let us do more, and claim that God, 



28 mept an& Watered 

by His Holy Spirit, should do as He 
has said. Let us march to victory with a 
veritable battle-shout, "Jesus Saves !" 
Let us anticipate every battle with 
the chant of thanksgiving on our lips 
(2 Chron. xx:2i.) "No weapon that 
is formed against thee shall prosper; 
and every tongue that shall rise against 
thee in judgment thou shalt condemn." 
We shall not be kept from tempta- 
tion, but in it. We shall not be de- 
livered from the presence of evil tend- 
encies within, but we shall be ren- 
dered dead to them. We shall still 
need to confess ourselves sinners re- 
quiring daily intercession and cleans- 
ing; but we shall be kept from con- 
scious sin up to the limit of our light; 
we shall be kept in ever deeper ave- 
nues and departments of our nature; 
we who were once kept from the out- 
ward act shall be kept from the in- 
ward disposition and intention; we 
shall be kept from the uprising of 



XTbe ITenfcerness of (Soft, 29 

desire as well as from its manifesta- 
tion in fact. 

But there is one promise more — "I 
will water it every moment." In the 
scorching Oriental heat the vineyard 
needs incessant watering, else the 
vines fail. And our spirits are equally 
dependent on the refreshment which 
only God's tender love can afford. 
The heat of temptation and of sore 
discipline is so oppressive, that we 
must faint beneath either one or the 
other, expect for the alleviating succor 
which our faithful God is constantly 
administering. 

Every moment — literally, every time 
the eye twinkles — God is watering us. 
We have become so accustomed to it, 
that we hardly realize how much we 
owe to it. Sometimes by the gentle 
distillation of dew, that gathers al- 
most imperceptibly on our spirits, and 
we hardly know whence or how it has 



3o ikept an£> Materefc* 

come. Sometimes by the touch of 
a moistening sponge, applied by the 
very hand of God. Sometimes by a 
shower of grace. By a text suggested 
to our memory; a holy thought; the 
look, or act, or word of some compan- 
ion; a paragraph in a paper; a sen- 
tence in a book — God waters us, and 
we become fresh and green, where the 
leaf showed signs of becoming shrivel- 
ed and sere. 

How blessed is life like this! In 
such hands — watched and guarded by 
such care — nurtured with such tender- 
ness ! May the result in each of us be — 
not the disappointment of wild grapes, 
but — the abundant clusters that will 
make glad the great Husbandman of 
our souls. 

We are safe because of His invisi- 
ble protection; as in our childhood's 
days the penny was safe at the bottom 
of the basin, the water of which was 
charged with electricity, an unseen 



Ubc Uenfcerness of ©o&, 31 

influence that was mighty to resist all 
approach. We are refreshed by a ten- 
derness which does not use a cataract 
when a summer shower will suffice for 
the tender grass on the mown lawns. 
"Thy gentleness has made me great." 



III. 
fov Easter /IDorning* 

"I will ransom them from the power of the 
grave; I will redeem them from death; O death, 
I will be thy plagues, O grave, I will be thy de- 
struction." Hosea xiii. 14 

COR long ages it must have almost 
seemed as if God had forgotten His 
challenge. "Death reigned from Adam 
to Moses," from Moses to David, who 
"died and was buried ;" and from David 
to Christ. One of the earliest chap- 
ters of the Bible (Gen. v.) is a ceme- 
tery of the old world through which 
we walk, remarking the inscriptions 
that record the names and ages of the 
world's grey fathers; and in the case 
of each the monotonous announcement 
follows, "and he died." 



TLbc promise of paraMse. 33 

The generations of mankind spring 
smiling and beautiful on mother earth, 
like the clover crops of successive 
years as if to defy, or with their charms, 
to fascinate the tyrant -reaper. But 
all to no avail. Xerxes sits upon his 
throne on the shores of the Helles- 
pont, whilst the myriads of his army 
pass before him in battle array; and he 
weeps in the presence of the inevit- 
able certainty that in a hundred years 
not one of them shall be left. ''All 
flesh is as grass, and all the glory of 
man as the flower of grass; he wither- 
eth, and the flower thereof falleth 
away." 

There were only two exceptions to 
the dread monotony of death — the 
rapture of Enoch, and the ascension 
of Elijah; they were like the early cro- 
cus or aconite, which announces the 
coming of the spring. All the rest 
died. At last He came in human 
form who had been fore-announced as 



34 jfor JEastev jflDornfng, 

Death's death, the destined fulfiller of 
the promise of Paradise. At least He 
will not succumb. He will not see 
death! Or if they meet, before one 
glance of His eyes, "which are as a 
flame of fire," surely death will wan 
as the moon when smitten by sunlight! 
But contrary to all that we might have 
thought, it was not so. He, too, the 
Prince of Life, the One who had 
spoken of Himself as invested with the 
power of resurrection, who Himself 
was the Fountain of Life, having en- 
tered the lists with the fell tyrant, al- 
lowed Himself to be led as a lamb to 
the slaughter and after hours of human 
anguish, closed His eyes, yielded up 
His spirit, and hung a corpse upon 
the tree. And it might have seemed 
therefore that none, not even God, 
could break the thrall of death. 

Such was the appearance; but not 
the fact. We are reminded of the old 
Greek story that when the city of 



"1Ro more Beatb-" 35 

Athens was doomed to supply each 
year a tribute of youths and maidens to 
the monster of Crete, the hero Theseus 
embarked with the crew, and accom- 
panied the victims that he might beard 
the dreadful ogre in his den, and slay- 
ing him, forever free his native city, 
from the burden under which it groan- 
ed. So Christ through death abolished 
death, and "destroyed him that had 
the power of death, that is the devil, 
and delivered those who through fear 
of death were all their life-time sub- 
ject to bondage.'' Here was fulfilled 
the divine announcement, u O! death, 
I will be thy plagues." 

Nor is this all. In the last vision 
vouching to man of the ascended 
Christ, the keys of death are said to 
hang at His girdle, and He has the 
power to shut so that no one can open, 
and to open so that no one can shut. 

Nor is even this all. The day is 
not far distant when all His saints 



36 jf or JEaster /iDorning* 

"that are in their graves shall hear 
His voice, and shall come forth;" then 
shall be fulfilled the saying that is 
written, "Death is swallowed up in vic- 
tory;" and then shall it be manifest 
that God has ransomed His people 
from the power of the grave; so that 
not a hoof shall be left behind, nor 
a single fragment of the mystical body 
of Christ separated from all the rest. 
Nor is even this all. The world of 
men is to particpate in the resurrection 
power of death's victor. When God 
enters into conflict with His foes, He 
shows them no quarter; He yields to 
no feelings of compunction, "repent- 
ance is hid from His eyes." There is 
not a single unit of the human race, 
who has passed through death in con- 
nection with the first Adam, who shall 
not share in the resurrection power 
of the second. "As in Adam all die, even 
so in Christ shall all be made alive." 
They shall come from the ages before 



"TEbou art witb me-" 37 

the flood; from the foot of the pyra- 
mids, where the slaves of the Pharaohs 
mingled their dust with the bricks they 
mad6 ; from the earliest scenes of life, 
and from the latest; from the most 
enlightened races of mankind, and the 
most degraded; from the most warlike 
and the most peaceful tribes; cathe- 
dral vaults shall spilt and give up their 
contents; Marathon, Austerlitz, and 
Waterloo, shall add their contribu- 
tions; the sea shall give return of 
the harvest sown through the centuries. 
Babylon, Nineveh, London, New York, 
shall spring to their feet, and march 
before the irresistible decree of Him 
who died in weakness, but who shall 
then despoil death of its prey, and 
compel him to disgorge. 

Nor is this all. All enemies are to 
be put beneath His feet. The last 
enemy to be destroyed by Emmanuel 
shall be death itself. In what its 
destruction shall consist we do not 



38 tfov Easter ZlDorning 

know ; except that in that world which 
the King who sits upon the throne shall 
create, we are told, "There shall be 
no more death. " No funeral cortege 
shall wind its way over the golden 
pavement; no cypress tree shall grow 
beside the river of life; no sob of 
mourner shall mingle with the songs 
of the redeemed; not a flower shall 
fade; not a leaf shrivel; not a babe 
languish — for ever and for ever and all 
the spiritual constituents of death, 
which have accompanied the disso- 
lution of the body, shall in the case 
of those who have accepted eternal 
life by faith in Jesus, be forever obliter- 
ated, or made the channels through 
which rivers of unending bliss shall 
eternally flow. 

How gloriously then will God realize 
the words that glisten before our eyes 
this Easter morning! Already in the 
resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ 
from the dead we see that the empire 



"present witb tbe %ovb: 9 _39 

of Death is doomed. Panic, dating 
from the first Easter morning, has 
reigned through all its realm, as some 
weak nation trembles before the steady 
and inevitable advance of an irresistible 
foe. And that panic shall be justified 
by the result. 

But in the meanwhile, is there no 
comfort for us who are compelled to 
live in the valley shadowed by Death? 
There is, because He goes beside us; 
and the psalmist, who had spoken 
of Him in the third person, ad- 
dresses Him in the second as that 
shadow comes nearer: "He restoreth 
my soul; Thou art with me." And if 
that blessed experience is to be ours 
of which the apostle spoke, that we 
should be alive and remain till the 
coming of the Lord, then there awaits 
us a still more blessed participation 
in the victory of which we have been 
thinking, for we which are alive and re- 
main till His coming shall be caught up 



4° fox lEaster /IDorntng* 

to meet Him in the clouds, this corrup- 
tion putting on incorruption, this mor- 
tal putting on immortality, in a mo- 
ment, in the twinkling of an eye. Not 
ours the pangs of dissolution then; but 
the bright swift translation !This earth- 
ly house transmuted into the heavenly, 
flesh and blood unto ethereal element; 
the body dropped from the opening 
glories of the spiritual, as the chrysalis 
case from the butterfly! Oh, who can 
wonder at the eager desire of the 
apostle that this might become his lot! 
(2 Cor. v.) 

And if this should not be the case, 
and we were doomed to go down, each 
alone, to die, yet even then we need 
not be without solace. Death is abol- 
ished! The wasp struck its sting into 
the cross of the dying Lord, and lost 
it there, and is now stingless forever. 
The poison fang of the viper has been 
extracted, Goliath beheaded by his 
own sword. The teeth of the lion have 



"present wftb tbe Xor&/' 4 1 

been drawn. And for this reason the 
apostles always speak of a believer's 
death as being but a sleep. Death is 
not to be more dreaded than sleep, its 
twin. 

In all likelihood we shall be quite 
surprised when we have passed through 
the dark portal, that was so slight 
and easy an experience. We dread 
it now, because we do not really be- 
lieve that Christ's death has made it 
all so different. If we believed this, 
it would give us great confidence. But 
whether we believed or not, we shall 
find it so. A step; a moment; a passage 
across the Bridge of Sighs; a transition 
from darkness to light ; a birth — that is 
all. Absent from the body, present 
with the Lord. No moment of un- 
consciousness or oblivion! The veil 
rent, the shell broken, the iron gate- 
way passed whilst the light and air of 
the eternal morning break on the eman- 
cipated spirit ! 



IV. 

"Waiting." 

' 'The Lord will wait. . . Wait for Him. " — Is A. xxx, 1 8. 

Y\/Eare all familiar with the waiting 
hours of life, when the stream 
hardly seems to move, or the air to stir; 
when the heart grows sick with deferred 
hope, and begins to question whether 
its way may not be hidden from the 
Lord, and its judgment passed over 
from its God. There are hours on 
languid summer days when all nature 
seems to have become stagnant— the 
aspen-leaf does not quiver; the fish 
does not rise in the pool; the hum of 
the bee becomes less frequent and 
more drowsy; and the shadow hardly 
moves on the dial— and these hours in 
nature find their counterpart in the 



monotony of life's common round, the 
common-place routine of its daily task. 

Such waiting times were wearily 
passing over the godly at Jerusalem 
while the invader was drawing his 
coils ever nearer to the doomed city, 
and the ambassadors were being cajol- 
ed in Egypt by false hopes; and cease- 
less prayers to God were apparently 
bringing no response. To such the 
prophet addressed these words, en- 
couraging them to believe that God 
was not unmindful of their case, but 
was waiting that He might act more 
graciously toward them than He could 
by answering them at once; and that 
He would finally be very gracious in 
responding to the voice of their cry. 

We, too, have sometimes been in- 
clined to stagger at God's delays. 
When we have prayed for immediate 
deliverance from some pressing sor- 
row; for the conversion of seme be- 
loved relative; for our own growth in 



44 "Wafting," 

grace and victory over sin — it has 
seemed as if the prayer had lost its 
way, or had become relegated to some 
corner of the Divine mind, where 
it was in danger of being over-looked. 
And we have begun to question the 
usefulness of prayer, and to wonder if 
our cries and tears were achieving any 
result. As a reply to such surmising, 
how comforting the assurance of the 
text — God waits that He may be gra- 
cious; i.e., He waits until there is such 
a combination of circumstances, and 
such a refining of character, that He 
can do ever so much better than if He 
had interposed in the first moments of 
our agonized appeal. 

He does not delay because of any 
caprice. We must not think that 
heaven has favorites, who are always 
served first. There is no partiality 
or favoritism with our Father. He 
chastens those whom He loves. The 
first come last. Each is dealt with 



Ube IResult 45 

according to his own merits, and on 
the ground of the peculiar necessities 
of his case. 

He does not delay because of any 
neglect. A woman may forget her 
sucking child, but our Saviour cannot 
forget us. We are graven as with a 
point of the rugged nail on the palms of 
his hand. We are his babes, needing 
hourly attention; the members of His 
body, fed by His constant life; the 
constituent parts of His Bride, whom 
He nourishes and cherishes as Himself. 
Sooner might His right hand forget its 
cunning than he not count us above 
His chief joy. 

He does not delay because He denies. 
Our heart sometimes so interpretes 
His dealings; but they do not really 
mean what our timorous faith reads in- 
to them. The remittance is not sent 
as asked; yet that does not prove that 
it is not there in our name, but only 
that it is being kept at interest, accum- 



46 "Maitin^" 



ulating till it reach a higher figure 
and be more of service, because com- 
ing at a time of greater need. No! 
His delays are the children of his love. 
He waits that He may be gracious, 
He dams up the current, that by hold- 
ing it back it may become a swifter, 
fuller stream. And what results are 
served by this prolonged delay? 

The energy of the flesh dies down. 
There is nothing which so tames and 
subdues us as waiting. So long as we 
are able to do something, the flesh-life 
is kept vigorous and strong; but it is 
speedily worn out by waiting — as the 
life of the criminal would be worn out 
by the slow process of death on the 
cross. And there is no kinder thing 
that God can do for us than to destroy 
the egotism, the self-assertiveness of 
our life, and to bring its pride to the 
dust. Waiting with mountains on 
either side, the sea in front, and the 
foe behind, is enough to empty the 



/IDen wbo have Waited 47 

stoutest heart of its self-confidence, and 
to make it cry out to the strong for aid. 

We often cease to want the very 
things on which we had set our hearts. 
Thus it has happened, as the years 
have passed, that we have seen reason 
to admire and adore the wise love 
which witheld that on which we 
had set our hearts with passionate in- 
tensity. We have discerned God's rea- 
sons for witholding, and we have had 
our own thankfulness. 

Our character also becomes riper by 
waiting. It is better for the young man 
to accumulate his fortune slowly, 
because he learns to value his money 
rightly, and to spend it well. Better 
for the student to acquire knowledge 
by degrees, because he gains habits of 
industry which are simply invaluable. 
Better for the saint to grow to good- 
ness by long and insensible progress, 
that he may be able to sympathize with 
those who are beginning to take the 



4§ 'Waiting- ' 

upward path. The tree must grow, 
ere it can carry its full weight of fruit. 
The eye needs strength, ere it can gaze 
upon the sun. The apostles must tarry 
at Jerusalem, that they may become 
mature and Spirit-taught, before they 
can bear without injury the tears and 
prayers of three thousand souls at Pen- 
tecost. 

Moreover, we secure larger results 
by waiting. If the Egyptian farmer 
is too impatient, and sows his seeds be- 
fore the Nile has reached its full flood, 
they will not be carried to the furthest 
limit of his ground, and his harvest 
will suffer. So often there is a result 
which may be gained by patient waiting 
which would defy us if we snatched at 
it. What folly to let out the molten 
metal from the cistern till the mould 
is perfectly ready to receive it! 

For all these reasons will the lord 
wait, that He may be gracious. And 
when patience has had its perfect work, 



* 1bope tbou in (Bob/' 49 

and there is no further reason for delay, 
He will be very gracious at the voice 
of our cry. 

Abraham waited for twenty-five 
years; and we can never gauge the ago- 
ny of that long suspense for a man who 
had no Bible, no experience of other 
men, no long record of the past. But in 
the end he became the father, not of 
Isaac only, but of all who believe. 
God waited that He might be gracious. 

Job waited through slow-moving 
arguments, that may have con- 
sumed weeks or months. Unable to 
enter God's presence-chamber to plead 
his cause, he was compelled to await 
its slow unfolding in the hands of his 
great Advocate and God; but at last 
he obtained a further revelation than 
he had been capable of in the earlier 
stages of that great controversy. God 
waited that He might be gracious. 

David waited from early boyhood to 
mature manhood, ere the throne of 



50 "Matting-" 



the whole nation became his. But it 
came at last. The fruit was ripe, and 
it fell into his hands. And it was bet- 
ter far that his adversaries should be 
put out of the way, apart from his own 
agency, than that he should appear in 
any way to snatch at what was not le- 
gitimately his. All Israel was finally 
prepared, and in God's time, to own 
and accept his supremacy. God waited 
that He might be gracious. 

Elijah, over-tired with the conflict 
on Carmel, and the eager speed with 
which he fled from Jezebel, lay on the 
desert floor, and asked to die. But 
instead of death's gaunt form, angels 
ministered to him food and sleep; and 
he lived long enough to see the solemn 
pomp of Horeb's theophany, and to 
receive the distinguished honor of 
translation in chariot and horses of 
flame. God waited that he might be 
gracious. 

The two sisters gently reproached 



Coming Blessing, 5* 

the blessed Lord, that He had not 
hurried to them at the first appeal they 
made to Him. "When he heard, 
therefore, that he was sick, he abode 
four days still in the same place where 
He was." But they learned that the 
delay was intended to make a greater 
miracle possible, and to reveal the 
Lord Jesus as the Resurrection and the 
Life, after a sublimer fashion than had 
been possible had He only raised His 
friend from his malady in its earlier 
stages. He waited that He might be 
gracious. 

Dare, then, to trust your Heavenly 
Father at any cost; and when heart and 
flesh fail, still bid your soul to hope in 
God, and buoy it up with the assur- 
ance that it shall yet praise Him for the 
help of His countenance. God is good 
when He gives; but better when He 
keeps in order to give an accumulated 
blessing, heaped up, pressed down, and 
running over, into the bosom of His 



52 "Matting" 



child in whom patience has had her 
perfect work. 

"He will be very gracious unto thee 
at the voice of thy cry"(ver. 19). It 
passes tongue or pen to tell all that is 
contained in that word very. Suffice 
it to say that motherhood and father- 
hood meet in Him; and that all which 
delicacy, and tact, and thoughtfuness 
can do, will be done for the soul that 
waiteth for Him. And during the long 
delay, little acts of tenderness will keep 
coming into the soul, making it aware 
that He is near; as when in a time of 
suspense, and a beloved one is anticis 
pating an operation, love is alway- 
busy providing little alleviations of the 
pain, small diversions from the one ab- 
sorbing thought, and delicate assuran- 
ces of sympathy. 

But we must wait. This as all we 
can do safely. Many will bid us go 
here or there, and do this or the other. 
Our heart often prompts us to repeat 



Coming blessing 53 

Saul's great mistake, and to offer the 
sacrifice, though Samuel has not ar- 
rived, but if we obey either of these 
promptings, we become involved in 
endless sorrow, and weave webs in 
which we become hopelessly entang- 
led For your own safety's sake, 
stand still; wait and see the salvation 
of God. 

But whilst we wait, there should be 
the expectant outlook. We must not 
cower in the dark closet, but climb 
to our watch-tower and scan the hori- 
zon. We must look out for God's car- 
rier-pigeons; lest they come to the cote 
with messages under their wings which 
we may miss. We must go down to 
the quay; or God's heavily freighted 
ships may touch there, and go away 
without discharging their cargoes. We 
must imitate the shipwrecked sailor, 
who keeps the fire lit by night, and is 
incessantly on the outlook for passing 
ships; else a search expedition may 



54 -Mafting/ 



come near his poor islet and miss him. 

Those who wait thus cannot be 
ashamed. It is impossible that God 
should disappoint the hope which he has 
instilled and nourished in the heart 
of His child. That hope is the shadow 
of coming blessing; to have the one is 
to be sure of the other in his own good 
time. "We are saved by hope." "And 
hope maketh not ashamed." "Lord," 
sayeth the Psalmist, "let none that 
wait on Thee be ashamed." "My peo- 
ple," is the reiterated Divine response, 
"shall never be ashamed." They that 
wait for a providence, says the old pro- 
verb, shall never be without a provi- 
dence to wait for. What a blessed- 
ness is here ! 

And as the face is ever turned in one 
direction, it becomes assimilated to the 
image of that visage on which the eye 
is so persistently fixed. "Beholding it 
we are changed." 

There is not much difference between 



Coming Messing. 55 

the two Hebrew words for waiting and 
singing. And it is certain that the 
one soon passes into the other. Hence 
it is that many of the Psalms, which 
begin with the plaintive expressions of 
waiting, climb up into joyful outburst 
of gladness and thanksgiving. Take 
heart, O troubled child of God! He 
waits that He may be gracious. He can 
make no mistakes. He has His eye 
on the dial His finger on your pulse; 
He notices the coming and going of 
the tremulous life. He will not be a 
moment before His time, nor a mo- 
ment after. 

"Blind unbelief is sure to err, 
And scan His work in vain; 

God is His own interpreter, 
And He will make it plain/ ■ 



V. 

"(Butfcance an& (Slots." 

"Thou shalt guide me with Thy counsel, and after- 
ward receive me to glory." — Psa. lxxiii.24. 

TN this Psalm troubled men find help 
A when they need help. It is like 
the balustrade which leads up from the 
dark cellar to the upper world, with its 
air of light and beauty; let us lean hard 
on it, or rather on Him, who is just 
beneath the surface of its words. 

There are some troubles which strong 
men may account themselves equal to 
bear in the energy of their own strength; 
but there are others so crushing, so 
terrible, that the heart utterly fails. 
The pruning-knife is so sharp, the 
cleansing fire so keen, the cup so bit- 
ter. 



Ube Sanctuary of (Bob* 57 

The psalmist here specifies the cause 
of one of these bitter troubles, as he tells 
us how perplexed he was with the mys- 
teries of God's providence. The in- 
equalities of life; the prosperity of the 
wicked; and the sorrows of the saints; 
why the ungodly prosper, while the 
waters of a full cup are wrung out to 
God's people — these things have al- 
ways been amongst the things hard to 
be understood; and in the case of the 
good Asaph, as he sought to know and 
understand them, his feet had almost 
gone, his steps had well-nigh slipped. 

And there are other sorrows which 
come to men — when the love cools 
which had once lit up their lives; when 
the prop on which they leaned is re- 
moved; when the hand that was tight- 
ly grasped in theirs relaxes its grip; 
when some evil thing that had entwined 
itself withthe stronglimbs of service has 
to be deliberately plucked away; when 
the face has to be resolutely turned back 



58 "(Sui&ance an& <Slor£*" 

from some door into bliss to take a 
lonely and desert path, and the smile 
of the summer garden is exchanged for 
the cold grey of the limestone rock. 
To bear all this with the anointed head 
and washed face! Not filling the air 
with complainings, or seeking to attract 
the pity of others; but suffering alone, 
and dumb with silence. Ah, how little 
do we know of what is passing beneath 
the surface-lives of those we meet con- 
tinually! We are like houses, through 
the windows of which now and again 
a face looks out; but the most of all 
that happens within is hidden. 

But how shall we meet these troub- 
les? 

There is no better way than to go 
into the sanctuary of God, (17). 
There earthly voices are hushed, and 
even the voice of passion is stilled. 
The glare of earth is replaced by those 
quiet neutral tints which rest the brain. 
The soul is able to see things from the 



XTbe Sanctuary of ©o&. 59 

standpoint of God and eternity, and so 
weigh them in the balances of the 
other world. We cannot judge of 
things as they really are whilst we are 
living in the busy stir of the world, 
and amid the hum of human voices. 
There is no such place for meditation 
as the shrine of worship, though it 
may be a quiet walk amid trees and 
meadows, beside tranquil lakes, or 
within the sound of the ocean wave 
breaking on the beach. And sorrow 
is almost a blessing if it drives us here. 
" Blessed are they that dwell in Thy 
house ; they will still be praising Thee." 
Next we may well look on to the end 
of things (17). Amid the agony of 
Job's trial, he might well have been 
strong could he have seen the end of 
the Lord, how very pityful He is, and 
of what tender mercy. The way is 
dark, and the stones cut the tender 
feet; but the Shepherd knows that the 
green pastures and waters of rest, to 



60 <<<3ui&ance an& (Slors*" 

which He leads, will more than recom- 
pense. Oh, trust Him, my brother! 
You cannot see the goal; but He does, 
and He has been there to prepare it for 
you. Wait for Him and be stilL He 
may seem to sleep; but the boat is 
making progress through the storm, 
and when He awakes, the keel will 
stand at the very point where you 
would fain be. "Thou shalt guide me 
with Thy counsel, and afterward re- 
ceive me to glory." 

And then, best of all, we must be care- 
fid to maintain the Blessed life. When 
in winter the short daylight fades off 
the world, we gather to our lamps and 
and fires, and the glow steals through 
the curtains on the passers-by. So, 
when all our life is wrapped in gloom, 
we must betake ourselves more vigor- 
ously to the cultivation of the Blessed 
Life. The sap which was making 
leaves must now go into fruit. 

And what is the Blessed Life? It is 



Ube Blessefc Xife. 61 

well described in the exquisite strophe 
with which the Psalm closes (23-28). 
To be continually with God, cultiva- 
ting the momentary sense of His pres- 
ence. To feel that heaven is heaven 
because He is there; and that earth 
need not be so lonesome if He is left. 
"Thou remainest." To count on Him 
more and more as the strength of the 
heart, and the Divine portion of the 
soul; to draw near unto him in thought, 
and musing, and desire, in the study 
of His Word and prayer; to trust in 
Him, and declare His works to others. 
These are some of the phases of the 
Blessed Life. 

Its essence consists, not in the emo- 
tions, but in the will; in the attitude 
assumed, perhaps almost unconsciously 
at the moment of conversion, at some 
subsequent time. When the will is in 
this attitude, adjusted, subjugated, 
surrendered, the nature of man comes 
to rest, as a boat anchored at stem and 



62 "(Butfcance anfc Glovy 

stern on the bosom of a tranquil sea; 
which only moves quietly as the gentle 
undulations, the exhausted movement 
of some long-spent storm, pass beneath 
the keel, or the wavelets break music- 
ally against its sides. There may be 
tremendous force, abounding activity, 
the incessant demands of varied inter- 
ests; but the fret and chafe are gone, 
for the nature has found the true law 
and aim and ambition of its existence 
in becoming an organ through which 
the will of God is done, even as it is 
done in heaven. When the God of 
peace adjusts us to do His will in every 
good work, then we have the peace of 
God as a sentinel keeping the heart and 
garrisoning the mind. 

The nature which is in harmony with 
the will of God is at one with all the 
holy beings in heaven and on earth — 
with the stars and their courses; with 
the inner spirit of nature; with the un- 
derlying principles of true blessedness; 



H>i\nne Companionsbtp* 63 

and, above all, with the nature of Je- 
sus, in whom the Divine and human 
blend perfectly; and so we come to 
know Him after an intimate and 
blessed sort. Remember how He said, 
"Whosoever shall do the will of My 
Father, the same is My brother, and 
sister, and mother." He knows us, 
and we know Him; He loves; and we 
love; He lives and we live also. There 
is generated thus a Divine companion- 
ship. All happy things, and all sad 
ones; all work in the world He loves 
so well; all travail for souls; all the 
lights and shades of life are shared with 
Him, our Kinsman, Brother, Lord; 
and into His resources we dip our 
handsxonstantly, unstintingly, know- 
ing that we are ever with, Him, and 
that love likes the loved to share its 
stores. 

This is the ideal life; but not an 
ideal alone, thank God, in ten thou- 
sand instances. For many of us who 



64 "(Bux&ance an& Olors/' 

read these words know it by glad en- 
joyment; if not through all the year, 
at least in bright parentheses, set in 
brackets of gold amid the darker let- 
terpress of ordinary experience. 

But why are these experiences not 
more permanent} We read that "Daniel 
continued." Oh to be steadfast and 
unmovable! In order to do this, let 
us remember the following principles. 

(i) We must always distinguish be- 
tween our emotions, and our attitude. 
The one may die off our lives like the 
sunset glory from the ridges of the Alps, 
that seem so grey and cold when it is 
gone; but the other should resemble 
the changeless perpetuity of the ever- 
lasting hills, unaltered by the transi- 
tions of the ages, or the alternations 
of day and night. You may not always 
feel as happy, but you can always say 
"Yes" to the will of God, and realize 
your attitude in the risen, ascended, 
loving Jesus, amongst the thousand 



Ube Mill of 6o&. 65 

thousands that minister to Him. In 
moments of depression, be sure to live 
in your will and His will. 

(2) We must be careful to maintain 
this attitude of the will unaltered. God 
is constanly putting into our lives lit- 
tle or greater occasions of testing. He 
presents us with His will hidden in a 
choice, which may be a stepping-stone 
or a stumbling-block. It is necessary, 
therefore, to be keenly on the alert 
for these occasions; lest almost un- 
consciously our will start back from 
the attitude it was led to assume, in- 
stead of riveting more firmly than ever 
the blessed yoke of allegiance. Unless 
we are watchful in applying to each 
new point the principle of surrender, 
which we have assumed, we may drift 
from full face, to three-quarter, and 
half-face before we are aware. 

(3) We must exercise ourselves to 
have the "conscience void of offense 
toward God and toward men." It is 



66 "©uifcance an& (Siors*" 

a great secret to maintain, not a scru- 
pulous, but a sensitive conscience; and 
whensoever the clear surface of the 
mirror is blotted or blurred by the 
slightest mist, to search out the cause, 
and at all costs rectify it. Conscience 
and the Holy Ghost are expressly al- 
lied by the apostle — the crystal stone 
ever bathed in the translucent glory of 
heaven. 

(4) We must ever keep our heart 
open to the Holy Spirit. It is His 
province and prerogative to nurture 
the inner life, and to fill it with the real- 
ized presence of the Lord. Sometimes 
it is wise definitely to seek by faith to 
receive an infilling of His Presence, 
and to believe that the faith which can 
claim, most certainly receives. At 
other times, or ever we are aware, 
through an open casement in our heart 
there is wafted the breath of heaven, 
laden with spicery and balm. We 
often take the word out of His hands, 



IRurturinQ tbe flutter Xife* 67 

pulling up our flowers by the roots to 
see if they are growing; or worrying 
because we think we are not learning 
our lessons quickly enough. We forget 
that the Father is the Husbandman; 
and that if only we are receptive 
enough and willing, He will fulfill in us 
the gook pleasure of His goodness, 
and the work of faith with power. The 
responsibility of realizing in us all 
that our nature is capable of must lie 
yonder on His shoulders; the receptiv- 
ity of His Holy impulses, and compli- 
ance with the least of them, is all that 
rests on us. 

(5) We must be very careful to 
maintain unbroken the habits of the 
devout life. Too many are like the 
slip-carriage, which runs for a little 
from the impulse received from the 
engine, but then slackens till it comes 
to a stand; instead of resembling that 
which keeps its connection with the 
speed and strength of the locomo- 



68 "(Buifcance anfc ©lots/' 

tive. Even when we had lost our im- 
mediate taste for devotional exercises, 
let us still pursue them; some of our 
gladdest hours have been those in 
which we have made a conscious 
effort to break through the lethargy 
and sluggishness of the soul. 

I have found these things helpful. 
(a) Not to read newspaper or light lit- 
erature in the early morning; nor then 
or at any other time to dissipate the 
energies of the soul on that which does 
not profit. 

(b) Relaxation and recreation of 
mind and body are, of course, needful 
and right. They must be attended to, 
or even our spiritual life will become 
impaired. It is wisdom on the part of 
the fisherman to cease net-casting, that 
he may set himself to net-mending. 

(c) To have always in reading some 
spiritual or devotional book, that 
touches specially on the inner life in 
its deepest aspect, and to devote some 



IRutturiuQ tbe flutter Xife- 6 9 

part of the morning hour to its perusal. 

{d) To Feed on Christ in His Word, 
and in the frequent observance of His 
holy supper, which is always a great 
means of grace and nourishment to my 
soul. 

(e) To cultivate the habit of con- 
verse with Christ, whilst walking in 
the streets, and especially in the coun- 
try, or whilst engaged in any occupa- 
tion. There is always time to look up 
to Him for His smile. 

if) To engage much in Christian con- 
verse with those who are deeply versed 
in these things, and have had close 
dealings with the Lord. It is when 
brethren talk together and reason that 
the Lord draws near to go with them, 
and their hearts catch fire and burn. 

In a laundry, the other day, I saw two 
kinds of irons. One, the usual sort, 
needing to be put on a heated furnace 
at frequent intervals to fit them for 
their work. The other, in which the 



70 "(But&ance an& <Slors/* 

iron was attached by a flexible gutta- 
percha tube to the gas-pipe, so that it 
was easy to use it, and inside the iron 
a jet of flame, fed by the gas, which 
maintained it at regular temperature, 
and counteracted the chilling effects of 
its work. Is it not this that we want? 
Not depending on the outside stimulus 
of a convention, a mission, or a ser- 
mon; but receiving straight from God 
Himself that inward fire of the Holy 
Ghost, to give and perpetuate which 
is the dearest passion of the hearer of 
Jesus. 

All this will cost us something; the 
daily dying to self; saying "No" to the 
flesh; the cutting of hand and foot; 
the dropping down into the earth to 
die: but these sufferings are not wor- 
thy to be compared with the growing 
glory of our life, or its blessedness, or 
its fruitfulness. 

And so it shall be that, as we nour- 
ish the Blessed life, in all its beauty, 



Nurturing tbe firmer Xife* 71 

till it become the habit of our being, 
there will come to us a great sense of 
rest amid trouble, of sweet singing, 
amid the earthquake that causes the 
prison-house to rock. God permits 
the pain, that we may be driven in to 
Himself in the very desperation of our 
souls. 



VI 

H 2>oor of 1bope. 

" I will give her ... a door of hope." — Hosea ii, 5. 

T^HIS chapter is full of God's / wills. 
It is easy to enumerate between 
twenty and thirty. And as we read 
them over, we are lost in wonder at 
all that God is prepared to do for us, 
who wandered from Him, choosing 
our own willful ways. It is only^an- 
other illustration of the truth that 
God's love is inexhaustible, and that 
He will not fail nor be discouraged till 
He has executed His purpose in each 
of those whom He has taken to be 
His own. It may be a long process 
delayed and checked by our repeated 
backslidings; but through all our wan- 



2)a£ amifc tbe Gloom* 73 

derings and sins, He will pursue the 
purpose of His all-conquering love, 
till we are betrothed unto Him for- 
ever. 

Let us imagine a narrow, rocky de- 
file. A mountain torrent, rapid and 
muddy, hurries downward beside the 
path, strewn with rough slate and jag- 
ged stones, which climbs up to the 
head of the pass. On either side walls 
of rock rear themselves, steamy with 
moisture, and covered with festoons 
of hanging plants and ferns; above, a 
narrow chink of blue shows itself where 
the walls of rock almost meet; all is 
wild and lonely, and terrible. And 
there, with bleeding feet, clothed in 
scanty rags, a female figure crouches 
in brokenness of heart and desperate 
straits. Such is the valley of Achor, 
or Trouble; and that is Israel in the 
hour of her extreme distress. God has 
allured her from paths of vice and sin 
into the wilderness. Her way as been 



74 H 2)oor of 1bope* 

so hedged up that she could not find 
her paths. Corn and wine have failed; 
wool and flax have been withdrawn; 
ear-rings and jewels have been strip- 
ped off. 

Yet, as she is on the point of aban- 
doning herself to the uttermost abyss 
of despair, the air seems to quiver with 
angel-wings, and to thrill with the re- 
peated declarations of the Divine pur- 
poses of grace. And beneath their 
impulse the sinner is heard to say, "I 
will go and return to my first hus- 
band; for then was it better with me 
than now." Ah, blessed resolve! No 
sooner has it passed her lips than down 
the pass a fair form is seen approach- 
ing, in robes of dazzling beauty, which 
make day amid the gloom. It is the 
angel of Hope; and when she reaches 
the place where the penitent kneels, 
she touches with her v/and the adjoin- 
ing rock, and, lo! it swings backward, 
and opens a way straight into a smil- 



Ube Dalles of Hcbor* 75 

ing landscape of luxuriant beauty, 
where the corn waves, and the juice 
reddens in the clustered grapes. It is 
the door of hope in the valley of Achor, 
through which the penitent passes 
from the wilderness into the garden of 
Paradise, w 7 here the sun ever shines, 
and the breeze is heavy with perfume. 
Something like this happens still. 
At sometime or other we shall have 
to pass through the valley of Achor. 
The road to our home lies that way. 
A chariot of fire carries some beloved 
soul from our side, and we have taken 
alone a path which a little before we 
trod in blessed companionship. Or 
we are called upon to face opposition, 
slander, and misinterpretation on the* 
part of those whom we had counted 
friends. Or our schemes miscarry, 
our cherished hopes are blighted, and, 
we are driven back discomfited from 
some position which seemed to be 
within our easy reach. At such times 



76 H Door of 1bope, 

we tread the valley of Achor, deso- 
lately and painfully. 

We cannot forget the incidents 
which first gave its name to the valley 
of Achor, and which will throw light 
on one of the frequent causes of our 
coming thither. Flushed with their 
successful capture of Jericho, the tribes 
of Israel chose out a handful of their 
number to capture the little town of 
Ai, which stood at the top of the de- 
file leading from the Jordan plain into 
the heart of the country. The work 
seemed altogether inconsiderable, and 
any great effort needless. Ah! how 
little they expected that ere the night 
fell that little band of warriors would 
be fleeing in hot haste down the pass, 
pursued almost to the -gates of the 
camp by the foe! — not because they 
were wanting in prowess, but because 
the forbidden thing was concealed in 
one of their tents, standing in appar- 
ent innocence amongst the rest, which 



"Zhz accursed tbtng/' 77 



glistened as lign-aloes beside the rivers. 
There are troubles which God sends 
us directly from His Fatherly chast- 
ening hand; these are not so hard to 
bear, because, if with one hand He 
uses the scourge, with the other He 
binds and heals, and applies the leaves 
of the tree of life. There are other 
troubles which come to us from men, 
these, too are bearable, because we 
can turn to Him for vindication, and 
count on Him for sympathy and fel- 
lowship. But there are other troubles 
for which we are ourselves account- 
able, because we have taken of the 
forbidden thing, and have hidden it 
in our hearts, smoothing over the earth 
that it appears not to men. But all 
the time we are conscious of the 
guilty secret, and it is always naked 
and open to the eyes of Him with 
whom we have to do. These troubles 
are the hardest to bear; and there is 
no relief from them until we have dis- 



78 H H)oor of Ifoope, 

covered and dragged the accursed thing 
to light, and put it away, stoning it 
with stones, and burning it with fire. 
It may be that some who read these 
words will find here a photograph of 
themselves, of the inner reason why 
their lives have been so full of defeat 
and failure. They are met in every 
direction by shut gates. The way is 
hedged up by thorns. Angels with 
drawn swords stand in narrow ways, 
walled on either side, and forbid their 
further progress. Bitterly they refuse 
to be called "Naomi, "because the hand 
of the Lord seems to have gone out 
against them. The very ships in which 
they sail are doomed to go down with 
crew and freight because they have 
taken passage in them. Like Joshua, 
they rend their clothes, and fall on 
their faces before the Lord, and put 
dust on their heads. But as to him, 
so to them, the Lord says, "Get thee 
up; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy 



@ur jfaitbful fngb priest 79 

face? . . . There is an accursed thing 
in the midst of thee, O Isarel. Thou 
canst not stand before thine enemies, 
until ye take away the accursed thing 
from among you" (Josh. vii. 10-13). 

Deliverance from the valley of 
Achor is impossible until a solemn con- 
vocation has been held in the heart, 
to which all the motives, and purposes 
and intentions of the inner life have 
been summoned. The lot must be 
solemnly cast. Is it the inner life or 
the outer? And if the inner, is it soul 
or spirit? And if the soul, is it the 
past, present, or future; retrospective 
or prospective ; memory or hope ? And 
if it be neither of these, but some per- 
mitted evil in the present, is it in the 
emotions or the will? Thus we win- 
now away one possible cause of failure 
after the other, until we are led by 
the Holy Spirit to discover, so to 
speak, "Achan, the son of Carmi, the 
son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the 



80 h Boor of 1bope- 

tribe of Judah," as the cause of all 
disaster and defeat. And when once 
he is indicated, we must show him no 
mercy. The cause of our defeat and 
failure must perish, that we may our- 
selves be saved. Maiming is, after 
all, not too dear a price to pay, if only 
we may enter into life. 

And if we be too tender-hearted to 
deal strongly and vigorously with the 
Achan who has caused us defeat and 
loss, let us go to our merciful and 
faithful High Priest, who carries in His 
hand the sharp, two-edged sword, 
which pierces to the dividing asunder 
of soul and spirit ; and let us implore 
Him to do for us what we cannot, or 
dare not, do for ourselves. He will 
not fail us in our extremity. He will 
do the work as tenderly and as thor- 
oughly as the case requires. And 
when the work is done in the valley 
of Achor, there will be opened to us 
u a door of hope." 



Zbe wa$ to IDictor^. 



I may here be permitted to quote 
from a letter which has come into my 
hands while writing this article: — 
"Last June I asked your advice about 
continuing an engagement with a 
young man who was not a Christian; 
and at that time I fully determined — I 
fear too much in my own strength — to 
give it up. But a short time ago, in 
a moment of weakness, it was again 
re-opened. Since that time I have 
experienced nothing but defeat and 
failure, until a few Sundays ago your 
sermon about Achan showed me plain- 
ly how wrong I was; and in God's 
strength I gave over the whole of my 
life into His hands, after a sharp strug- 
gle. I am very happy now, fully trust- 
ing that this is not His will for me. 
Oh, if people would let God live 
through them, how much happier 
they would be!" In this case, in the 
valley of Achor, there has been opened 
"a door of hope." 



82 h Door of ibope. 

How often our great adversary tries 
to arrest us in doing some necessary 
deed of self-denial, by presenting to our 
view all the suffering and pain to which 
we shall be exposed if we dare to per- 
severe! But he cannot, and will not, 
tell us, on the other hand, how much 
blessing will stream into our life, if 
we dare to be true to the promptings 
of the spirit of God. Only let us be- 
lieve that in every valley of Achor 
there is a door of hope, if we will but 
dare to stone Achan to death. And 
when the cairn of stones beneath 
which he lies is reared in the valley, 
we shall ascend the long pass to vic- 
tory. As sure as God is true, there 
is a way out of every trouble into as- 
sured and glorious victory, if only in 
the trouble we will do God's will on 
Achan. 

Time would fail to tell of all the ad- 
vantages to which that door will lead. 
Some of them are enumerated here. 



Ube wa$ to IDtctori?* 83 

"She shall sing 77 (15). There shall 
be a return of joy, which had fled 
from the heart. "Thou shalt call me 
Ishi" (16). There shall be a deeper 
knowledge of God, so that He shall be 
rather the Husband than the Master. 
"I will make a covenant" (18). There 
shall be realized a blessed unity with 
all creation. "I will hear 77 (21). There 
shall be new power in prayer, and 
answers shall tread in each other's 
footsteps, as they hasten into the 
soul. 

Thus through trouble we shall pass 
into blessedness; through the grave 
into life; through the iron gate into 
freedom. And, at last, when we pass 
through the valley of the shadow of 
death — to so many a valley of Achor 
indeed — we shall find a door of hope 
suddenly opened even there, by which 
we shall pass into the radiant, daz- 
zling light of our Father's palace, and 
the land of perpetual day. 



VII. 

"*>e will J>o it" 

(Thess. v. 24.) 

VX7 HAT is it that He will do ? There 
is a tone of confidence in these 
words which bespeaks the unwavering 
faith of the apostle in the willinghood 
and power of God to do for these 
Thessalonian Christians that which 
indeed is needed by all of us for life 
and godliness: first, that they should 
be sanctified wholly; and secondly, 
that they should be preserved without 
blame, until the coming of our Lord 
Jesus Christ. 

We can hardly realize how much 
this meant to men and women reared 
amid the excesses and abominations 
of those days, when religion was an- 



"Blameless." 85 

other name for unbridled indulgence 
in every kind of sin. Blamelessness of 
life, the stainless habit of the soul, self- 
restraint were the attributes of the few 
whose natures seemed cast in a spe- 
cial mold ; while they mocked ordi- 
nary people, much as Alpine summits 
do emaciated invalids or disabled crip- 
ples. And yet the apostle was a prac- 
tical man, not likely to ask that which 
lay outside the limits of possibility for 
man to realize, or for God to give. 
And the fact of his having prayed for 
these things was clear evidence that 
believers might seek for, and attain, 
that condition of soul which his words 
implied. 

We must distinguish carefully be- 
tween "blamelessness" and" faithless- 
ness" — The latter can only be ours 
when we have passed the gate of 
pearl, and been presented faultless in 
the presence of His glory, with ex- 



86 «f>e will fco ft." 

ceeding joy; the former alone is pos- 
sible to us here and now — but, thank 
God, it is possible, because He has 
said that" He will do it." 

Every one admits that there is a 
difference between these two words. 
Take an instance from common life. 
A working woman comes home weary 
from her day's toil, and having pro- 
vided the evening meal, and put her 
little ones to bed, she sits down to 
work for her babe. Presently the lit- 
tle frock falls upon her knee, and she 
leans back in a snatch of unconscious- 
ness, such as only the most tired 
know. Her eldest little girl, noticing 
the collapse of her mother's efforts, 
steals to her side, takes her work gent- 
ly out of the tired fingers, and creep- 
ing back to her chair by the fire, es- 
says to finish the uncompleted hem. 
"Mary," says the mother, suddenly 
awaking, "what are you doing?" 
"Helping you, mother," replies a 



"1bi& witb Cbttst in 6o&," 87 

voice with a touch of scaredness in it. 
"Let me see what you have done; 
bring it here, child." And as the 
quick woman's eyes look down at the 
tortuous stitches, she sees at a glance 
that every one of them will have to 
be unpicked and done again. But 
she says never a word to the little 
maiden of blame or fault-finding. 
The work is not faultless, by a long 
way; but the child is blameless. Had 
the cobbled seam been due to sloven- 
liness or neglect, the work had been 
blameworthy as well as faulty; but 
inasmuch as it has been done to the 
very best of the child's ability, she 
stands without blame in her mother's 
presence. Of course, the analogy is 
not perfect, because other conditions 
connected with our Saviour's work 
have to be introduced before we can 
stand in the presence of God, blame- 
less and faultless. Yet the illustra- 
tion will show how it is possible for 



88 "ibe will fro it/' 

those whose every moment is full of 
fault to be nevertheless blameless and 
harmless, the sons of God without re- 
proach ; because they have not wilfully 
ignored any known command, or 
failed in any service to which they 
were called, but have lived in the cur- 
rent of the precious blood, and within 
the charmed circle of the will of God. 
Oh to live that blameless life, the life 
hid with Christ in God! 

The agent of this condition of stain- 
less purity and beauty is God himself . — 
He is often spoken of as "the God 
of Peace." None less than He could 
accomplish so marvelous a result. 
Consider the greatness of the contrast! 
There is no true heart illumined by 
the Spirit of God which will hesitate 
to adopt the confession of the patri- 
arch, " Behold, I am vile!" It were 
difficult to find words to set forth with 
sufficient emphasis our natural undone 



Silent Forces. 89 

and sinful state in the sight of God. 
Pure snow trampled into mud by the 
passers-by ! The refuse of gas-retorts 
which, till recently, was deemed too 
filthy for use! Ink, jet black, and 
apt to leave a deep permanent stain! 
And to think that such can be made 
blameless, not only yonder, but here 
and now — this is a marvel which the 
finger of God alone can effect. "He 
will do it." 

But he will do it as the God of 
Peace, — 

The mightiest forces in the universe 
are the stillest. Destruction ever 
crashes on its way, like the express 
which tears through the little wayside 
station. The roar of the autumn sea! 
The vehemence of the hurricane hurl- 
ing through the forests! The crack- 
ling of the devouring fire! The thun- 
der, the earthquake, the volcano! But 
who can hear the day break? — or de- 



go "the will &o it" 

tect the footfall of the spring, stepping 
through the woods, scattering flowers? 
Who thinks of listening for the pulse 
of the law of gravitation, or the thud 
of the forces that redden the grape, 
golden the corn, and cover the peaches 
with their delicate bloom ? 

Stand on an eminence and watch 
the effect of a long summer day on an 
English landscape. There is no sound 
but the far away bleat of the sheep, 
the low of the cattle, or the lazy mur- 
mur of the bee, by which the effect of 
the silence is rendered yet more in- 
tense. Nature seems asleep beneath 
some drowsy spell of slumber. The 
hours move slowly, as if loath to leave 
their merry dance in the woodland 
glade. But all the while, as you lie 
in a delightful reverie, you are aware 
that mighty chemical processes are at 
work, by which the juices of the earth 
and the elements in the air, the dew 
and the sunshine, are being elabo- 



"Spirit, Soul, an& 3Bo&^;' 91 

rated for the sustenance of man. 
So God works in the hearts He loves. 
He does not strive, nor cry, nor cause 
His voice to be heard in the streets of 
the inner city. It is sometimes diffi- 
cult to detect His working, and impos- 
sible to say, Lo, here! or Lo, there! 
His touch is so gentle; His voice so 
still and small; His breath so zephyr- 
like. When He is most at work with- 
in we think that we are making no 
progress, and even that we are going 
back. Comparing the experiences of 
some others with our own, we are in- 
clined to imagine that we have not 
been the subjects of the spirit's work; 
or that His operations have come to 
a standstill because there is nothing 
sensible to record. At such times we 
should remember that we have to do 
with the God of Peace. He works 
most energetically and mightily, when 
to any of the senses of the soul there 
is no evidence that He is there at all. 



92 "ibe will So it" 

The presence of ozone in the air can 
only be detected by the most delicate 
tests, a faint color on a piece of litmus 
paper — that is all. And the presence 
of God in the soul is only apprehended 
when the bloom of perfect health be- 
comes apparent as its result. 

The method of His work is from 
within, outwards. — This text is often 
quoted, and generally mis-quoted. 
Men often speak of body, soul, and 
spirit — and, indeed, that is generally 
their method; but it is not God's Man 
begins from without and works in- 
wards; God begins from within and 
works outwards — from the spirit to 
the soul, and from the soul to the body. 

There is a beautiful analogy sug- 
gested by the Lord Himself between 
our nature and the temple, in whose 
precincts He stood when He spake of 
"the temple of His Body." It is also 
accentuated bythe Holy Ghost through 



Sanctificatiom 93 

the apostle Paul. As God is a Trin- 
ity in Unity, so was the temple; and 
so is man. The spirit corresponds to 
the most Holy Place; the soul, by 
which we reason, imagine, hope, and 
love, to the Holy Place, where white- 
stoled priests went to and fro on their 
sacred duties; the body, to the outer 
Court. In the case of the unregener- 
ate, the most holy or inner shrine is 
either destitute of light or tenanted by 
the spirit of evil. But in the nature 
which has been truly regenerated by 
the Holy Ghost, a marvelous addi- 
tion has been made by the entrance of 
the true Sheckinah light, the nature 
of God. This is the distinction be- 
tween the unsaved and the saved. 
The former are like a deserted castle; 
the latter like that castle when the 
royal pennon tells that the sovereign 
has come to reside within. 

Before the act of consecration it 
would seem as if a heavy curtain hung 



94 "1£>e will &o ft" 

between the spirit and the soul, shut- 
ting out the glow of the Sheckinah 
glory; but when the will has been en- 
tirely resigned and yielded, that veil 
is torn from the top to the bottom, 
and the soul also becomes pervaded 
with the blessed light and power of 
God. Nor can it be confined there; 
but as in the dedication of Solomon's 
Temple there was an overflow of light 
in cascades of glory, driving the priests 
before it by excess of splendor, so 
the body of the believer comes under 
the gracious influence of the indwel- 
ling spirit, and is transfigured, refined, 
purified, and saved. 

This is Sanctification. There are 
many definitions of the word sanctify ; 
but there is none so entirely satisfac- 
tory as that which affirms that it is 
the result wrought on character by 
the indwelling and presence of God. 
Wherever God is, there, as the neces- 
sary result, are the essential forces 



Ibe is ffaitbful-" 95 

which sanctify — whether it be the 
seventh day, or the sacred ground on 
which the burning bush stood, or the 
tabernacle in whose inner shrine the 
Sheckinah shone, or the heart of man 
where God has taken up His abode. 
Art thou wholly sanctified ? Hast thou 
opened thine entire being in every de- 
partment to His indwelling? Does 
that Divine presence fill thee, which 
makes heaven what it is? If not, then 
never rest until through the open case- 
ments of thy being His presence is 
wafted, never to go out again, but to 
occupy and possess thee in every part. 
Then thou shalt be sanctified. Thou 
wilt carry with thee everywhere the 
sign of the Divine Presence which 
will be the true antidote against sin. 
He who dreads the influenza saturates 
his garments with Eucalyptus oil; and 
he who fears to sin must steep his na- 
ture in the Presence of God. Then 
when be is wholly sanctified he is 



96 "Tbe will fro it," 

wholly kept and preserved blameless 
in spirit, soul, and body. 

The certainty that God will do this. 
—"He will do it." Old habits are 
strong, but He is stronger; tempta- 
tions masterful, but He can quell them ; 
circumstances unfavorable, but He is 
above them; the difficulty of securing 
in us a blamless life almost insupera- 
ble— but " He will do it." What can 
He not do, who hath made the heav- 
ens and the earth, the stars and the 
seas, the soaring Alps and the dainty 
shells that lie along the coast? He 
can do these greater miracles in the 
moral sphere; and He will do them 
because He has instilled the appetite 
and desire for them, and has trained 
us to yearn for them, and surely can- 
not disappoint the instinctive cravings 
which He has Himself imparted. He 
is faithful. He does not teach babes 
to cry for milk which is not stored in 



"1be is jfaitbful" 97 

their mother's breasts. He does not 
create instincts without providing 
satisfaction for their demands. He 
does not teach us to long almost to 
agony for a blameless life, and then 
dash our hopes with disappointment 
on the ground. No; He is faithful to 
His Son, to His covenant, and to the 
yearnings which He has implanted for 
a blameless life; and He will do it of 
His spirit and grace, far more exceed- 
ding abundantly above all that we ask 
or think. 



VIII. 

"flDorning t>elp." 

"God shall help . . . right early" ("when the 
morning appeareth," Margin). — PsA.xlvi. 5. 

TPHIS Psalm dates from later days 
than those of David's, though it 
has much of his heroic courage and 
splendid diction. It belongs to the 
days of Hezekiah, and may even have 
been composed by that splendid in- 
spired genius, Isaiah, whose hymns 
and odes were almost as priceless a 
heritage to his people as his great 
evangelic prophecies have been to the 
church. 

// was a dark time indeed. — The 
holy city was without an ally; desti- 
tute of the fortifications and equip- 



<3oVs Covenant. 99 

ment which were the boast of the 
mightier cites of the great world; no- 
tably deficient in the possession of a 
river, which should engirdle it with its 
bioad streams, intercepting the inva- 
der, or providing a never-ending sup- 
ply of water for the imprisoned citi- 
zens; and ever nearer drew the terri- 
ble Assyrian, who boasted that "he 
had gathered the riches of all the 
earth, and there was none that moved 
the wing, or opened the mouth, or 
peeped." Then the inspired uttered 
those clarion notes which told that 
God was their refuge and strength, a 
very present help in time of trouble; 
and declared . that those who dwelt 
beneath His protection must not fear. 
"God will help." 

He will help because He is bound 
by His covenant, — He has entered 
into covenant with our Surety, Jesus, 
that He will succor to the uttermost 



ioo "jflbornfnd 1belp*'' 

of omnipotence every soul of man who 
becomes one with Him by a living 
faith. Inasmuch as the Father does 
to one of the least of His, He does it 
to His Son. And if God were to fail 
to help one of those who belong to 
Christ, though he were the weakest or 
meanest of His members, the failure 
would be to the Son Himself. But 
this, of course is unthinkable; and so 
by the very ties of the Divine love 
and unity, God is bound to help all 
that claim His succor in the name of 
Jesus. 

He will help, because He is bound 
by considerations of his oivu honor. 
— What mirth it would make in the 
place prepared for the devil and his 
angels, if it were known that the Al- 
mighty could not, help one of those 
who fled to him for deliverance! Da- 
vid bitterly complained once that 
there was danger of his foes saying, 



'feat not" ioi 



"There is no help for him in God;" 
and used this as an argument why God 
should make no tarrying. And if 
the servant cares so much for the 
honor of the King, surely there are 
state reasons why it should not be tar- 
nished by even an appearance of neg- 
lect. That was a true answer of a 
dying saint, when one suggested that 
perhaps, after all, God might desert 
her, and she replied, "He can if He 
will; but in that case He will lose more 
than I shall. For His own name's 
sake He is bound to help." 

He will help because He is bound 
by his own promise — How often does 
the page of scripture testify to His 
willingness to help, as it glistens with 
His promises: "Fear not, thou worm 
Jacob, I will help thee!" "Fear not, 
for I am with thee; be not dismayed, 
for I am thy God; I will strengthen 
thee; yea, I will help thee: yea, I will 



102 "/[Doming 1belp," 

uphold thee with the right hand of 
My righteousness." "He hath said, 
I will never leave thee, nor forsake 
thee." "So that we may boldly say, 
The Lord is my helper; I will not fear 
what man shall do unto me." If only 
we are reconciled to God, and are liv- 
ing in His purpose, to do His will; 
then, though we are confronted with 
unlooked-for opposition, with moun- 
tains of obstruction whilst in the pros- 
ecution of His plans, we may unhes- 
itatingly count on Divine help, and 
reckon on God's faithfulness. We 
need not look to the hills for help; but 
beyond them, to the God of Jacob. 
"Our help cometh from the Lord, 
which made heaven and earth." 

Is there a soul to whom these words 
may come who does not need help? 
The body is weakened by disease — 
you need help to be patient ; the nerves 
are so weary and so overstrung — you 
need help to be gentle; the heart is so 



u %ovb, 10elp me," 103 

sick with waiting for one who does not 
come — and you need help just to exist 
from moment to moment; the anxieties 
of providing for the innocent nestlings 
who so implicitly trust you are so ur- 
gent, that you need help not to take 
advantage of some unholy suggestion 
constantly pressed on you; help for 
resisting temptation, for bearing faith- 
ful witness to the truth, for being al- 
ways sweet and strong and good, for 
prosecuting the path which dips down 
into the valley of shadow, for laying 
the darling Isaac on the altar, for tak- 
ing up the cross and following the 
Crucified. We all need help like this 
— "Grace to help in time of need." 
But we cannot be disappointed of ob- 
taining it: "God shall help." The 
very straitness of circumstances hedg- 
ing thee round like the gathering hosts 
of Senacherib around Jerusalem; the 
absolute failure of all human succor; 
the mysterious silence of God — all 



io4 "/looming 1foelp* M 



these things have been contrived to 
lead thee to give Him His right place, 
and to take up thine own; and then 
to utter the one intense cry, which 
carries the promise of the answer at 
its heart, "Lord, help me!" And He 
will ride on the heavens to thy help, 
and draw thee out of the deep waters 
by His outstretched arm: "God shall 
help thee." 

The hour when God zvill help — 
"And that right early." This fixes 
the period of the advent of help. The 
margin renders it, "When the morn- 
ing appeareth." There was doubtless 
a prophetic reference in these words 
to the fact that the destruction of the 
beleaguering hosts would take place 
as night began to yield to the silvery 
touch of dawn. "When they arose 
early in the morning, behold, they 
were all dead corpses." 

But there is surely something fur- 



Sbouts of Deliverance* 105 

ther, which touches the life of God's 
people in all ages. The help seems to 
tarry. The day wears away, and yet 
the Divine deliverance comes not. 
The last night has come; to-morrow 
will witness the final assault of the foe 
and the destruction of the last fabric 
of hope. The weary hours pass sadly; 
and, lo, it is the fourth watch, that in 
which the grey dawn of the dreaded 
hour steals up into the sky. Is there 
no use in prayer? Has God forgotten 
to be giacious? Has He in anger 
shut up His tender mercies? Is His 
mercy clean gone forever? No; at 
that very moment the Divine helper 
is come. 

The delay has been long enough to 
test faith and hope; but not too long 
to make interposition useless. See! 
the legions of ministering spirits speed 
from their long lines of waiting expec- 
tancy, and fill the air with shouts of 
deliverance. God Himself rides upon 



106 "/looming 1belp/' 

a cherub, and draws nigh to rescue 
the beloved and much-tired soul. The 
enemy gives back. The prey is torn 
from the jaws of the mighty. Another 
illustration is given of olden words: 
"There is none like unto the God of 
Jeshurun, who rideth upon the heaven 
in thy help, and in His excellency on 
the sky;" "God shall help, and that 
right early." 

Let it, however, not be forgotten 
that, as Israel could not detect the 
Divine protection that engirdled them 
so it may not be always possible to 
realize or feel that the Divine help has 
come. But this should not surprise 
us; it is God's way to test our faith in 
Himself. If we have once claimed 
His all-sufficient succor, we must be- 
lieve that we have the petitions we 
have made, and that the help of God 
has come into our lives. Claim it, and 
go on living in the faith that you have 
it; and you will find that it has verily 



Sbouts of Deliverance," 107 

come, though its footfall has awoke no 
echo, and its soft wings have startled 
no wave of vibrating response on the 
still air. 



IX. 

Claiming an& iRecftoning. 

' The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will perform this." 

— Isa. ix. 7 

'THIS paragraph is so associated with 
an especial season in our English 
life that it seems hedged around from 
common use, and we hardly realize 
the wealth of meaning which lies with- 
in for daily help, making it one of the 
deepest, sweetest, and most helpful 
passages in Isaiah's prophecies. 

There is an evident rebound from 
sorrow, from dimness and anguish, con- 
flict and pain; and the resulting joy is 
compared to three similitudes, in which 
alone the imagination of the prophet 
can find adequate expression. It is 
the harvest-time, and the long patience 



"TTbe H)ass of flMMan." 109 

of the husbandman has met with its 
reward; the fields are cleared of their 
golden burden; the last of the sheaves 
which had cast long shadows in the 
setting sun has been carried to the 
barn; and throughout the homestead 
there is the joy of finished labors, 
hopes fulfilled, and plentiful provision 
for days to come. "They joy before 
Thee according to the joy in harvest. 1,1 
The scene is changed and it is the 
close of the war for freedom in which 
Gideon led Israel against the hosts of 
Midian, that like locusts, had devoured 
their land. Bitter, indeed, had been 
the long bondage, in which their crops 
had been swept off, their homes pil- 
laged, their populations enslaved; and 
therefore the exultation was the more 
jubilant when the youngest son of Jo- 
ash, the Abi-ezrite, with his three 
hundred soldiers, inaugurated a tide 
of victory, which rose and gathered 
force until Midian had been driven 



1 10 Claiming an& IRecfeoning* 

across the frontier, suffering a defeat 
which paralyzed it for a century. Ah, 
what joy was there throughout all the 
land of Israel ! And " Thou hast bro- 
en the yoke of his burden, and the 
staff of his shoulder, the rod of his op- 
pressor, as in the day of Midi an" 

Again the scene is changed, and the 
prophetic vision beholds that blessed 
hour when war itself shall die, after 
which the bugle will never again sum- 
mon embattled hosts to meet in con- 
flict, and the grass will never again be 
dyed with the rich blood of men, and 
nations will never again forbear to 
count the gains of a battle won be- 
cause of the awful cost in their noblest 
sons. What a day that will be when 
museums shall be erected to preserve 
as curiosities the implements and ac- 
coutrements of war, that the children 
of the new age may study the old bar- 
baric times which shall have passed 
away as a bad "dream"! Then, from 



<5ot> in Cbrist m 

vale to mountain peak, from river 
bank to ocean shore, shall ring out a 
note of joy so high, so piercing, that 
the very stars shall tremble in their 
silver spheres — "Hallelujah! for the 
Lord God omnipotent reigneth." This 
shall be the joy when the battle of the 
warrior, with its confused noise, "and 
the garments rolled in blood, shall be 
for burning, for fuel of fire" (R. V.). 
Nor will the prophet be satisfied with 
any imagery less than this to depict 
the joy of which he speaks when the 
great consummation that fires his soul 
shall have been realized by the zeal of 
the Lord of Hosts. 

And what is that consummation, 
which is to break upon men as a great 
light on those that walk in darkness, 
and in the land of the shadow of 
death, thrilling them with joy un- 
speakable and full of glory? The an- 
swer is given in those marvelous 
words, in which the peace of the sea 



n2 Claiming au& IRecftoninc}* 

of glass is mingled with the fire of 
manifested Deity: u Unto us a Child 
is born, unto us a Son is given; and 
the government shall be upon His 
shoulder; and His name shall be called 
Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty 
God the Everlasting Father, the 
Prince of Peace. 11 In other words, 
God has stored Himself up in Jesus, 
the Babe of Bethlehem, the Boy of 
Nazareth, the Son of Man, stooping 
low enough to be within the reach of 
the humblest, lowliest child of the hu- 
man family; so that each of us might 
be able to claim, and appropriate, and 
use all the abundant stores of Deity 
for the exigencies of daily living. 

A respectable family becomes very 
reduced in its circumstances; the 
mother finds it difficult to make the 
meagre provision suffice for her hun- 
gry little ones; their clothes get more 
ragged; the father's threadbare coat 
makes it less and less possible for him 



H Son an& Brotber* 113 

to obtain the situation which his qual- 
ifications deserve. But a child is born 
into that home, quite unlike the rest 
of the children — beautiful in feature, 
quick in intelligence, winsome, gifted 
spirituelle. As he grows up, he man- 
ifests unusual powers; rapidly distan- 
ces his compeers; passes from the ele- 
mentary school to the college, and 
thence to the university. Presently 
tidings begin to come back of his suc- 
cess, his growing fams, his prizes, the 
assured certainty of his becoming a 
great man; and as they arrive in let- 
ter, and rumor, and newspaper, the 
mother's eye gets brighter; the father 
no longer evades the associates of 
earlier days; the home becomes better 
furnished and the table better spread; 
the other children are better clothed 
and educated and put forward in life; 
and the one glad explanation of it all 
is found in the words, "Unto us a child 
is born, unto us a son is given. " And 



in Claiming anfc TRecfeoning* 

as the years go on, whilst money pours 
in as a golden tide to the successful 
student, it will find its way increas- 
ingly to the family in the eld home; 
and each member of it will reap the 
benefit of association with its child 
and son, all that is needed being to 
prove a distinct need, and to put in 
an appropriate claim. What a mine 
of wealth would be opened up in the 
counsel, strength, resources, influence, 
and position, of that beloved and 
trusted son and brother! 

This will illustrate the prophet's 
thought. As the oppressed Jews, 
groaning in their brick-kilns, were glad 
for Moses, given to lead them forth 
from the house of bondage ; as Eng- 
land, travailing under the cruel exac- 
tions of the Danes, was glad for our 
great Alfred; as the Netherlands were 
glad when William the Silent arose to 
arrest the blood-thirsty rule of Alva; 
as Italy was glad when her Victor 



u %et bfm tafce." 115 

— * — — 

Emmanuel overthrew the dark mis- 
rule of the Papacy — so may we be 
glad because God has given Himself 
to us in Jesus. Why should living 
men complain? Granted that Adam 
was our father, the second Adam is 
the Son of Man. If tears, and toil, 
and pain, and death have come by 
the one; glory, and honor, and immor- 
tality are ours by the other. And if 
only we belong to the same family by 
regeneration and adoption; if we are 
sons, and therefore younger brothers 
of the Son; if we have the right to call 
His Father our Father, we gain from 
our association with Him more than 
enough to compensate us for our as- 
sociation with the gardener who stole 
his Master's fruit in the Garden of 
Paradise. 

Christian people do not enough ap- 
preciate this connection, or avail 
themselves of its benefits. We do not 
enough distinguish between praying 



1 16 Claiming anfc IRecfeoning* 

and claiming by a simple faith; but 
there is a wide difference between the 
two. We may pray for some special 
grace for years, and still be deficient 
in it; whereas we may claim it in an 
instant, and it will be ours. I am so 
often impressed with this difference 
in prayer-meetings. The same peti- 
tions are being constantly offered for 
the same things in a half entreating, 
half-despairing tone. But if the gifts 
sought from the Father's hands are 
really such as He can bestow, there 
should be no need for the incessant 
repetition of the same requests be- 
cause they would be claimed and taken 
from His outstretched hand. A Chris- 
tian will request prayer that he may 
receive a certain grace of Christian 
character; whereas there is not the 
least reason in the world why he 
should not take as much of it as he 
requires, altogether apart from the 
intercession of others. We ask for 



©ur Counsellor* 117 

health, or power, or deliverance, or 
vindication, with the accent of weary 
uncertainty, which proffers the same 
request, year after year, regardless of 
the voice, which is ever crying, "Who- 
soever will, let him take. . . freely." 

Of course there are things with all 
of us which are not included in God's 
will, and concerning which we cannot 
therefore ask with any claiming faith. 
But there are others, which are pre- 
sented on the page of scripture, or are 
indicated by the evident Providence 
of God, concerning which we have 
the right to say, "My Father, it is Thy 
grace which has put this precious thing 
within my reach; and I take it with a 
reverent grateful heart." And when 
we have been led to take up this atti- 
tude, we must not suddenly turn round 
to ascertain through some answering 
emotion whether we have received the 
gift we sought. We must reckon that 
it is ours; we must rest satisfied that 



"8 Claiming an& IRecftonutg. 

God is faithful, and that He has done 
as He has said; we must even count 
Him true and our own emotions liars. 
If we ask anything according to His 
will, we know that He hears us; and 
if we know that He hears us, we know 
that we have the petition that we de- 
sired of Him — not only that it will be 
ours, but that it is ours, to be used 
forthwith for His glory, because the 
zeal of the Lord of Hosts will perform 
it. 

Are you in need of counsel? Rev- 
erently and thoughtfully claim the 
wisdom of the Counsellor; reckon that 
you have it, and act to the best of 
your judgment, believing that His 
wisdom is threading it with His unseen 
direction. And when you have acted, 
whatever be the results, dare to believe 
that you were directed to do the best 
thing, and never look back. 

Are you in need of strength? Rev- 
erently and believingly claim the power 



"ffeefcontbeiipinQCbrist/' ng 

of the Mighty God, and reckon that it 
is yours; and go forth to any work to 
which He may call you, believing that 
you are adequately equipped. You 
will not know what power you have 
till you begin to use it. 

Are yon in need of Unchanging love 
and affection, in a world of incessant 
disappointment, in which the warmest 
friendships cool, and the dearest 
friends die? Reverently and gladly 
avail yourself of the love of the Father 
of the Ages, the I AM, who is the 
same, yesterday, to-day, and for ever. 
Drink deep draughts of His love and 
know that it is yours, though you may 
not be conscious at the moment how 
much is pouring into your soul. 

Do yon want peace? Reverently 
and trustfully claim His peace, who is 
the Prince of Peace ; and know that it 
is yours, in the depths of your soul, 
though the surface of your life be still 
swept by storms. 



i2o Claiming an&IRecfeoning, 

We may often fail to receive these 
gifts from God, because we fail to 
feed on Christ through His word. 
Here, too, the same distinction must 
be made. We are all too prone to 
judge of our profit in the reading of 
the Bible by our emotional pleasure. 
If we have much of this, we think we 
have gained much; but if little, we 
ask what profit there is in our Bible 
study. We must learn to believe that 
just as food will nourish us even when 
it is not specially palatable, and though 
we may not think of it after we have 
eaten it, so the Word of God will 
nourish our spirits when we thought- 
fully and prayerf ally read it, in the 
absence of much sensible pleasure. 
Read your Bibles, and so feed on the 
living Christ; and believe that you are 
gaining health and strength, even 
though it be an effort of your faith to 
reckon that it is so. 

These are two great words — claim 



Braugbts of Soy. 121 

God's fulness, and reckon that what- 
ever you can claim is yours, although 
no answering emotion assures you that 
it is. Dare to act in faith, stepping 
out in the assurance that you have 
what you have claimed, and doing 
just as you would do if you felt to 
have it. 

But this is only possible when you 
have put the government — where God 
the Father has placed it — on the 
shoulders of Jesus, It is there by 
right, but it must be also there by 
choice and acquiescence. And when 
it is, there is no limit to the freedom 
with which we may have access to 
God. All of God lies open to him 
who will be all for God. Nor is it 
such a dreadful thing to resign the gov- 
ernment of the life to Jesus. Napo- 
leon, standing amid the ambassadors 
of Europe, reassured the entire con- 
intent by the utterance of his New 
Year's motto, The empire of peace. 



122 Claiming anfc TRecftonina* 

But with far greater truth may we 
apply the words to Jesus Christ, the 
Prince of Peace, whose rule over the 
soul is the synonym of peace unspeak- 
able and full of glory. And as His 
government spreads further and fur- 
ther over the soul, with its growing 
area there is growing peace, until they 
shall both become complete to all the 
heights, and depths, and breadths of 
blessedness. Of the increase of His 
government, and of our peace, there 
is no end. 

All this may seem shadowy and far 
away; difficult, if not impossible, to 
realize in our life. But we may take 
comfort in the assurance that the zeal 
of the Lord of Hosts will perform 
what we cannot accomplish. There 
is grace enough in him, and patieuce, 
nd strength. He will not fail, nor 
be discouraged. Hand over the entire 
matter to Him; leave yourself in his 
hands ; accept what He sends ; do what 



Braugbts of 5o£. 123 

He bids; and you will drink deep 
draughts of that joy of which the pro- 
phet speaks in these rapturous and 
glowing words. 



X. 

Deatb tbe (3ate of Xife. 

"In the third day He will raise us up and we shall 
live in his sight. — Hos vi, 2. 

Part I. 

HTWO Christians were engaged in 
deep conversation on a subject 
which had an absorbing interest for 
them — how to secure a fuller measure 
of the life of God in the soul. Theirs 
was the search for the Golden Grail. 

For some weeks previous to the oc- 
casion of which I write, they had been 
led to see, in dim outline at least, the 
great law, which runs through all the 
world, that life is through death. 
The flowers of spring are born from 
the death of winter. The richest 
crops are raised on virgin soils, where 



XTbe corn of wbeat* 125 

for centuries dead leaves had been left 
to rot and molder. Each generation 
of living things arises out of the death 
of that which has preceded it. And 
is not this in harmony with that law in 
spiritual things, to which our Lord so 
constantly referred? "Except a corn 
of wheat fall into the ground and die, 
it abideth alone; but if it die, it bring- 
eth forth much fruit"; "Whosoever 
shall lose his life for My sake, the 
same shall save it;" It is profitable to 
be maimed in order to enter into life." 
And once when Peter sought to per- 
suade Him to spare Himself the cross, 
He told him he was playing the part 
of Satan. 

It was beneath the inspiration of 
such thoughts as these, that my friends 
clasped each other's hands, and looking 
steadfastly up to Christ, dared rever- 
ently and trustfully to say, "Lord, we 
choose death; let us drink of Thy cup, 
aud be baptized with thy baptism, if 



1 26 Beatb tbe (Bate of %i t e. 

ouly we may have thy life abundant- 
ly" It was a great thing to say — 
but, after all, is it not what each of us 
should say to Him, who has passed 
through the grave to the glory of the 
Risen Life, leaving us an example that 
we should follow His steps, and in 
whom God reckons that we have died 
already? "Know ye not that so many 
of us as were baptized into Jesus 
Christ were baptized into His death?" 
and does not that initial act of our 
religion accept that position which is 
ours in God's purpose, and write the 
sentence of death on all our existence? 
We must not court death — we must in- 
vent ingenious methods of dying. But 
weare to yield ourselves into the hands 
of the Living One that became dead, 
asking Him to lead us as He will, sure 
that He can make no mistake; and 
that in proportion to our deep plant- 
ing together in the dark soil of death 
will be the wealth and radiance 



Self-complacence, 127 

of color in our common after-life. 

Perhaps my friends had hardly 
counted the cost, any more than the 
two disciples knew what was involved, 
when, in answer to their Master's 
challenge about sharing His baptism 
and cup, they said, "We are able." 
Perhaps it is best that we should not 
know, and that He should lead us 
down one step at a time. But there 
are certain well-defined stages in this 
inward dying, which must probably 
be appropriated by us all. 

We must die to self complacency, — 
The first step in the education of 
some village lad, who gives evidence 
of the artist's gift, which has already 
made him the idol of the rustics 
around, is to introduce him to the 
masterpieces of human genius, that he 
may be fit to die of shame, when any 
shall mention his own rude daubs. 
And the first step in the education of 
the spirit is to break down all conceit 



1 28 s>eatb tbe ©ate of Xff e. 

in its own goodness. This is the les- 
son of the Book of Job. At the outset 
Job accounts himself the perfect man, 
and stoutly protests his innocence 
against the accusations of his friends; 
but at the close, when he has seen 
the holiness of God, he confesses him- 
self vile. Any kind of self-esteem on 
account of our superiority to others, 
of the sensitiveness of our conscience, 
or of our very humility and modesty, 
must be denied and offered to death. 

We must die to our own method of 
justification. — We are all anxious to 
stand right with God's law. We allege 
excuses why we have sinned as we 
have done. We blame our parents, 
our temperament, or our circumstanc- 
es. We try to compensate by the 
makeweight of good things we do, or 
evil things we avoid. Like Cain, we 
come before God with the fruit of the 
earth, produced and ripened by our 
assiduous care. And so long as this 



Spiritual 3ovs. 129 

is our case, we are not only in a state 
of condemnation before God, but we 
shut ourselves out of that blessed re- 
demption which has been wrought out 
for us in the Person and Work of Je- 
sus. 

We must die to our own method of 
santift cation. — This, at least, we 
think we can do. If only we are 
started right, we surely can keep so. 
We can at least be good, and pure, 
and gentle. Resolutions well made, 
the self-watch well kept, the temper 
of the soul well maintained by con- 
tact with noble ideals — surely these 
will suffice to maintain our spiritual 
life on the high level to which, at the 
outset, the Saviour lifted it. We start 
out as an army, with banners and 
banners and bands, and gleaming ar- 
mor; but we encounter nothing but 
disappointment and failure, and return 
at last defeated, disheartened, almost 
in despair. Ah, we must die to our 



1 30 2>eatb the ©ate of %\ f e. 

good self, arrayed in its Sunday best, 
as we once died to our bad self, dressed 
in rags! 

We must die to our spiritual joys. 
-—In the early stages of Christian liv- 
ing, our Father allures us forward 
with many moments of radiant sun- 
shine and reasons of sacred delight; 
but alas! we get to cling to these rath- 
er than to Himself, and so it befalls 
that He is obliged to cut them off and 
to wean as, that we may turn to Him- 
self, to find what we could never find 
in His gifts. 

If a father were always bringing 
chocolate creams home to his little 
children, he might begin to wonder 
whether their welcome day by day 
was intended for himself, or for what 
he brought. And so he might one 
morning clearly announce to them 
that they must not expect any more 
for at least a month. But how often 
would he wonder to himself through- 



"H enjoy (Soft*" 131 

out that day whether he would be 
greeted again by the sparkling eyes, 
and heightened color, and patter of 
little feet along the passage! And if, 
when he turned the corner of the 
street, he saw the window as full as 
usual of little expectant faces, would 
he not thankfully realize that his chil- 
dren loved him, not for his sweets, 
but for himself? So God, our Father, 
is often obliged to deprive the soul of 
all emotional delights; and we must 
be prepared to die to them. 

A Christian woman was once asked 
if she enjoyed religion; and she an- 
swered, after a moment's thought, "I 
enjoy God." There was a great truth 
taught in that distinction, and one 
which can only be learnt when we 
have submitted to the death of which 
we speak. 

We must die to our self- energy in 
Christian work. — How much there is 
of this in us all! We are more taken 



132 Beatb tbe ©ate of Xife- 

up in doing things for Christ than with 
Christ Himself; as if a wife should be 
so occupied in doing acts of service 
for her husband, that she neglected 
communion with him in the twilight, 
beneath the trellis-work of the porch, 
or in the glow of the winter fire. How 
much of natural impetuosity, of ambi- 
tion, of dependence on our own 
schemes, of resolve to do as others 
have done, of yearning for notice and 
patronage, there is in all our Christian 
work! To see the result; to know 
that you are effecting something; to 
feel that you are exercising an influ- 
ence in the molding of men — all this 
is such a temptation, diverting us 
from the simplicity and unobtrusive- 
ness of the highest form of work. 

We must learn to work without 
these perplexing cross-lights, to per- 
severe undaunted by years of apparent 
failure; to renounce our boasted 
schemes and vaunted strength; to be 



Ufcoltars* 133 



broken and emptied vessels; each to 
be an insignificant joint in the great 
body; content to stand as a pawn on 
one square of the chessboard, not 
moved for hours, because set to hold 
a position on which perhaps the whole 
game turns. It is only so that we 
become meet for the Master's use, and 
capable of the loftiest service. 

We must die to excess in what is 
right, — Of course we must be crucified 
to all that is strong; but our difficulty 
will often lie with what is in itself in- 
nocent and right. Human affection; 
the love of wife or child, of parent or 
friend; the desire to know; the power 
of conversation; the play of poetry, 
imagination, and genius. All these 
things are precious and inestimable 
gifts, for which we should be always 
thankful, and for the proper use of 
which we shall be called to account. 
We have no right to bury any one of 
them in the napkin of neglect. We 



1 34 Beatb tbe (Sate of Xif e, 

must rejoice in every good thing which 
the Lord our God has given. But we 
must never forget that there is as much 
danger through excess in a right di- 
rection, as through the least trespass 
in a wrong one. The excessive use of 
a right thing is its abuse; and is that 
sin of idolatry against which we are 
perpetually warned. Nothing will 
more certainly affect and hinder the 
work of God in the soul. We must 
learn self-restraint; to be still; to die 
to our impetuosity and excess. 

TJiere are times when we are called 
icpon to die to what is natural and 
right in others, but which we must 
renounce for some special purpose. — 
The right hand, or foot, or eye, may 
cause us to stumble; and in this case 
we must be willing to dispense with 
them. Or we may be specially called 
on to undertake some mission, which 
will involve our leaving father and 
mother, and wife and children, and 



XTbe Xife of (Bob. 135 

lands. But these demands do not 
come to all; and when they seem to 
come, we must carefully wait to as- 
certain beyond a doubt what may be 
the precise will of God. It is His 
business to explain His will to the 
obedient soul; and until we are certain 
of it, we must keep still, and wait 
patiently for Him. 

The self-life is our greatest trouble. 
It is so various in its manifestations. 
Resist it in one place, it will break out 
in another. When you have over- 
come it in some hideous form, it will 
insinuate itself in congratulations for 
your victory. It will appear as an 
angel of light, so guileless and inno- 
cent, excusing faults as infirmities; 
anger as highly-strung nervousness; 
ambition as zeal for God. It will 
freely vaunt its sinlessness and free- 
dom from the very root of evil. Its 
heads are as many as the hydra's. It 
is like the weed which spoils our wa- 



136 3>eatb tbe Gate of Xif e. 

ters; or like the velvety moss of the 
American forests — creeping every- 
where, but stifling life from the trees 
to which it clings. We must die to 
self if we would taste of the deep, 
tranquil, satisfying Life of God. 

PART II. 

Dying is neither easy nor pleasant. 
— The Master did not find it so, nor 
shall we. To learn that your right- 
eousness is as filthy rags; to be re- 
duced to take the gift of forgiveness 
on the same terms as the meanest and 
vilest sinner; to find that it is impos- 
sible to realize your cherished ideals; 
to discover that God wants neither 
your wisdom nor strength, but your 
helplessness in His work, to be con- 
tent to lose all the bright manifesta- 
tions of God's favor; to lay your Isaac 
upon the altar, your dearest, most 
cherished, most God-given possession; 



1bow to Wie. 137 

to turn aside from some gate standing 
open before you into a sunlit garden, 
and at the call of God to take a dark- 
er, stonier pathway; to renounce what 
others hold without rebuke; to go to 
Gethsemane, and Calvary and the 
grave, in close companionship with 
the Man of Sorrows; to be stripped 
of friends, and wealth, and reputation, 
and success; flung like a shipwrecked 
mariner on some lone shore — ah! this 
is not the lot which we would natur- 
ally select. Nay, it is that from which 
we shrink. 

But we are not called upon to ex- 
perience the whole of this at onee. — 
Many pass through life knowing com- 
paratively little of it. Others know 
only the earlier stages. And for such 
as we are called to drink this cup to its 
dregs, it is diluted in its preliminary 
experiences. The less are given first, 
the greater follow only at intervals, 
and as the strength of the soul has de- 



138 H>eatb tbe (Bate of Xife, 

veloped into ability to bear them; so 
that we may be quite sure whatever 
is given us to do or suffer, there is a 
certainty of sufficient strength being 
within our reach, there is no need for 
either fainting under trial, or despair 
as to its issue. 

Now let us learn how to die. 

Let us look, not on the dying side, 
but on the living side. — Each shadow 
has its light; each valley its height; 
each night its dawn; each wound of 
the oyster-shell its pearl; each kind 
of death its counterpart of life. 

To have the one is to have both. 
It is, therefore, a mistake to be ever 
thinking of what you must give up. 
Think rather oi what you must take in. 
Follow hard after Christ, to be with 
Him, for Him, like Him. Let your 
intimacy with Him be like those 
closely pointed stones in the old build- 
ings of Thebes, between which it is 
impossible to insert even a sheet of 



TTbe name of Jesus* 139 

writing-paper. Obey Him up to the 
hilt. 

So will ever new blessings disclose 
themselves to you; and as you climb 
to them you will be insensibly drawn 
away from things that fascinated and 
injured you. Reaching out after a 
fuller measure of life, you will hardly 
realize the cost by which alone you 
can enter upon its enjoyment. The 
wrench of death will be less percepti- 
ble amid the joy which sheds its light 
on your face, and the warm glow into 
your heart. As the room is filled with 
the odor of the ointment, you will 
not grieve so much over the broken 
alabaster box. Win Him, and you 
will more easily count all things but 
dross. 

Above all, tricst the lead of Jesus, — 
"He will revive us; He will raise us 
up; and we shall live in His sight. " 

He knows every step of the way 
through the dark valley; because, as 



1 40 3>eatb tbe ©ate of %i t c. 

the Captain of Salvation, He has been 
obliged to traverse it with each son 
whom He has brought to glory. While 
the heart is breaking, He yearns with 
tender pity over the bleeding member 
of His own body. The knife which 
cuts into our flesh pierces His heart. 
Lean heavily on His arm. He is with 
you, feeling for you infinitely, though 
you cannot see Him. It is impossi- 
ble for Him to take one false step, or 
inflict one needless stab of pain. 

Out of your suffering He is going 
to bring glory to Himself and blessed- 
ness to you. Fix your eyes on these. 
In proportion to your pain will be the 
eternal weight of each. And though 
heart and flesh fail or faint, take His 
name, like a perpetual refrain on your 
lips; and go forward, remembering 
that "for the joy that was set before 
Him, He endured the cross, despising 
the shame, and is set down at the 
right hand of the throne of God." 



"%iU more abun&ant/' i+i 

There is no solace to the troubled 
soul so sweet as the perpetual mention 
of the name "Jesus," as the life is laid 
upon the altar, and surrendered to be 
all His own. Look up to Him; see 
the smile on His face, as He sees His 
own image reflected in the soul which 
He is burnishing, and hears His own 
name repeated by the lips which re- 
strain the groans and anguish that 
press for utterance Do not be ashamed 
of your tears ; they shall be very grate- 
ful to Him, and shall refresh Him like 
those of old that fell thick and fast on 
His feet. He sometimes seems to 
tarry. His stages of redemption are 
so slow; but His love is dealing more 
wisely with thee in its delays, impet- 
uous spirit, than it could in haste! It 
is hard to wait when heart and flesh 
are failing; but thy God will be the 
strength of thy life, and thy portion 
for ever. He sees the eternal weight 
of glory which must follow on this 



142 Beatb tbe (Bate of %ife. 

thine affliction, which in comparison 
is light, though it seems so heavy to 
thy poor soul, "because by thy strength, 
with none to spare." And He knows 
the nearest path that will lead thee 
to it. Trust His hand and purpose 
running through the circumstances of 
thy life. 

And out of all this will come the 
more abundant life. — Suffering at first 
isolates us; but afterwards it links us 
in the closest bonds with all who are 
sitting on the hard benches of the 
school of sorrow. We learn to com- 
fort them with the comfort with which 
we have ourselves been comforted of 
God. The water streams from the 
smiten rock. The flower springs from 
the dead seed. The crystal river from 
the melting glacier. The bright gold 
emerges from the dark mine and the 
cleansing fires. As the marble wastes 
beneath the sculptor's chisel, and 
falls in a shower of splinters to the 



"TKHait for Dim." H3 

floor, the image grows in its fair and 
perfect beauty. 

A simple-hearted Christian girl, who 
had heard God's call to the mission- 
field, felt keenly the pain of leaving 
her lover in one of our great manu- 
facturing centers. She came to her 
minister and said: "I cannot bear to 
give up anything for Jesus grudgingly. n 
So she spent a whole night in prayer, 
that He would help her to make the 
gift with a smile, and came again to 
her minister, saying, "I don't love 
Jack less; but I love the Lord Jesus 
so much more, that it is easy to go." 

When you are sure that Jeus asks 
aught of you, yield up your will to 
Him; ask Him to come, and take it 
and blend it with His own. Be will- 
in to be made willing. Lie low at His 
feet. Wait for Him. Trust Him. 
Do not be afraid. He will gently open 
the door of Life, through which you 
will pass out of the vale of death into 



144 Beatb tbe (Bate of %ii e. 

wider and more abundant blessedness. 
Lay yourself upon the altar of devo- 
tion; and as the burnt-offering begins, 
the song of the Lord will begin also, 
never to stay again, but to rise higher 
and even higher, till it passes on to 
blend with the high notes of angel 
minstrelsy 

And, in the end, when the lesson is 
fully mastered, we shall find that His 
going forth has been prepared as the 
morning; and He will come unto us 
as the rain, as the latter and former 
rain, unto the earth. Abraham shall 
take his Isaac from off the altar, and 
lead him home; Joseph shall weep 
tears of welcome on his father's neck; 
Job shall have more prosperity than 
before his trial; the young confessors 
shall emerge from their fire without 
their bonds; flowers shall grow where 
the black cinders lay; and where the 
body was buried in the sepulcher amid 
tears of hopeless sorrow, there shall 



"Wait for Tbim," 145 

be a joyous resurrection. We shall live 
again, and shall know the Lord as 
never before. 

Wait to see the end of the Lord; 
He is very pitiful; He is human in His 
tenderness. Though He slay thee, 
trust in Him; He knows the thoughts 
He thinks towards thee, thoughts of 
good, and not of evil, to give thee an 
expected end: "He will raise us up, 
and we shall live in His sight." 

In agony, O Lord, 

To thee I cry; 
I cannot tell my grief, 

Nor why I sigh. 
But thou who sendest me 

This bitter pain, 
Wilt stand beside me 

Soothing this brain; 
Calming with tender hand 

This breaking heart, 
Although the pain is great 

And sore the smart. 
Teach me Thy lessons soon, 

Then wilt Thou, Lord, 
Give me my heart's desire. 

Keeping thy Word. 



XL 

Wbat tbe /IDan can be. 

"A man shall be as a hiding-place from the wind 

and a cover from the tempest; as rivers of water in 

a dry place; as the shadow of a great rock in a 

weary land." 

ISA. xxxii. 2. 

Y\ 7HAT a revelation is here of the 
wants of men ! The very supply 
indicates the depths and urgency of 
the need which craves for satisfaction. 
"Hiding Place!" "Covert!" "Foun- 
tains of Water!" "The shadow of a 
great Rock!" Each of these beauti- 
ful images serves to accentuate the 
impression of urgent and pitiful need. 
Lighthouses and harbors are always 
terribly suggestive. 

If a hiding-place is provided, it is 
evident that the bleak moor-land, or 



"1be rebufte& the MiuS/' t 47 

desert-waste is being swept by pitiless 
blasts, which search the traveller and 
catch up the sand-atoms in blinding 
whirlwinds. If there is a covert, it 
is clear the storms must be frequent. 
If rivers of water ', then there is every 
fear of thirst. If "the shadow of a 
great rock, then there is likelihood of 
weariness in the scorching glare of the 
sun. 

And surely all these have their anal- 
ogies and correspondences in our lives. 

Wind. — Once when the Lord and 
His apostles were sailing together 
across the lake, there came down a 
great storm of wind on the water, 
which became suddenly and ominously 
ruffled, flecked with white foam, and 
dashed ever more tumultuously against 
the sides of the little shell that carried 
the Hope of the world. It would 
seem as if the prince of the power of 
the air, whose empire is in some way 
mysteriously associated with the ariel 



148 Xlftlbat tbe man can be* 

regions, sought to vent his hate on 
his glorious Antagonist by raising this 
terrible and dangerous storm around 
the men who loved Him, and Himself. 
Surely Satanic agency is more than 
hinted at when we are told that He 
rebuked the wind and the waves — re- 
buke would hardly avail for a mere 
element. 

But how apt a symbol of our lives 
is here! Often when all seems fair, 
when the winds are confined in their 
chambers, when there is the hush of 
perfect calm in our lives, whilst we 
are confident and unsuspecting of 
alarm — all suddenly a wild storm en- 
velopes us in a furious melee. A 
calumnious story is circulated, which 
is absolutely without foundation; a 
well-meant act is misconstrued; a love 
suddenly cools; a dam which had 
warded off the wild north sea breaks; 
a life which had been dearer than our 
own fails; our whole nature is plunged 



"H>n? places/' 149 

into a bath of agonizing pain; the 
mind is cast into a tumult of perplex- 
ity; the heart is rent. Ah, then we 
know bitterly the spiritual side of the 
words, "a small tempest lay upon us." 
Storm. — Storms sweep the floor of 
the desert of all the loose sand that 
may be lying there, and gathering it 
together hurl it against the traveler 
or the caravan, stinging, blinding, and 
threatening to overwhelm. But a co- 
vert is an enclosure of canvas, or a 
nook formed by bowlders of rock lean- 
ing together, and against it the storm 
beats in vain, piling up the dust atoms 
in hillocks without, whilst the cower- 
ing refugees escape. Thus it is with 
human life. We are exposed not only 
to great and crushing sorrows, which 
threaten to suddenly engulf us, as it is 
said the old seats of human life were 
engulfed in the midst of the Indian 
ocean; but we have to suffer from 
the accumulations of little stinging 



i5° Wbat tbe flDan can be* 

irritations, which are like the grit 
or sand grains of the desert. The 
rasping temper of some one with 
whom we have to live; the annoyances 
and slights which are daily heaped on 
us; petty innuendoes and insinuations 
that sting; trifles which we could not 
put into words, but which hurt us like 
acid dropped into a sore —it is hard to 
stand against these. 

A Dry Place. — Our lot is sometimes 
cast, as David's was, in a dry and 
thirsty land, where no water is. There 
are few helps in our religious life; we 
are cast into a worldly family; we are 
obliged to attend an uncongenial min- 
istry; we are too driven with occupa- 
tion to have quiet times for fellowship 
with God, and communion with His 
saints; or we are so lonely that we 
long unutterably for some kindred 
soul, some one to love or to be loved 
— all these are dry places. The eye 
ranges day after day over the same 



Ell nee&g met in Cbrts t. 1 5 1 

monotonous landscape; no well of 
water, no living spring, no sign of 
fresh green verdure. And, indeed, it 
is remarkable to think how many are 
daily passing over this arid waste, 
some unloving, some unloved, some 
scorched by the fierce quick heat of 
passion, all feeling the parching thirst, 
in which the tongue cleaves to the roof 
of the mouth. 

A Weary Land. — The whole ex- 
panse of desert lies beneath the glare 
of the noontide sun. The lizards and 
beetles revel in it, but every living 
thing pants in exhaustion, or creeps 
into the shade; and the traveler paces 
wearily on, ready to throw himself 
down under the shadow of the veriest 
bush and ask for death. Weary peo- 
ple ! there are plenty of them. Weary 
of life, with its poverty from which 
there is never a moment's respite! 
Weary of life, with the love of the life 
unrequited! Weary of life, with the 



152 Wbat tbe Zlfoan can be. 

light of life hidden beneath a bushel! 
Weary of life, with its common-place 
duties and monotonous routine! 
Weary, weary, so weary! The de- 
mands are so incessant; the pressure 
is so constant; the heartache is so 
wearing; the pain is so cruel; the sor- 
row that eats out the heart is so bitter. 
Ah, me! the eyes weary of looking for 
one who never comes! the ears weary 
of listening for a step that never greets 
them; the hearts weary of waiting for 
a love that never comes forth from the 
grave, though they call never so loudly. 
But all these many-sided needs may 
be met and satisfied in "The Man 
Christ Jesus." No one man could 
perfectly meet even them all. And 
He is prepared to meet them all, not 
only in the case of one or two of the 
children of men, but for every one of 
the vast population of our globe; yea, 
and abundantly beyond all that any 
ask or think. 



"Complete in 1bim/' 153 

We can never forget our Lord's es- 
sential Deity; the Second Person, in 
the ever-blessed Trinity; the Fellow 
of Jehovah; the only-begotten Son of 
the Father. But we must never mag- 
nify His Deity at the expense of His 
humanity. He emptied Himself of 
His Divine prerogative when He as- 
sumed human nature. God with God, 
He is also Man with man. And it is 
of Him in His true humanity that the 
prophet speaks in these rapturous 
words. Let men with their indefina- 
ble aspirations, and women with their 
yearnings for love, and sympathy, and 
strength, and ownership, bring all to 
that Man, whom God hath ordained, 
and concerning whom He has given 
assurance to all men in raising Him 
from the dead. There is no hunger or 
thirst in our nature that does not bring 
a beatitude with it, when it leads 
us to His royal and glorious nature, 
to find there both solace and supply. 



1 54 TOlbat tbe ZlDan can be* 

How manifold is the character of 
Christ! No one metaphor can set 
forth all His beauty. Creation has to 
be ransacked, for metaphors to unfold 
the mysteries of loveliness and power 
which lie hid within Him, waiting to 
be unfurled: — 

"The whole creation can afford 
But some faint shadows of my lord; 
Nature, to make his beauties known, 
Must mingle colors not her own." 

In all men there is a fatal incom- 
pleteness. One quality seems to have 
grown rich at the expense of others. 
The soil of their soul has given all its 
nutriment to some exquisite flower or 
fruit of the Christian character but 
just in proportion as it has poured it- 
self in one direction, it has been 
drained away in others. Have you 
not often wished to take the charac- 
teristic qualities from the men in whom 
they are strongest, and put them all 
together into one nature, making one 
complete man out of the many broken 



Ube Mater of %ife. 155 

bits, one chord of the many single 
notes, one ray of the many colors? 
But this that you wish to do is done 
in Him — in whom the faith of Abra- 
ham, the meekness of Moses, the pa- 
tience of Job, the strength of Daniel, 
the love of the apostle John, blend in 
one complete symmetrical whole. 

And this is the further thought —that 
He completes our incompleteness. 
We are but partial segments of the 
circumference. He makes up the per- 
fect sweep of the circle. We bring to 
Him but a tiny scrap of the Christian 
character; but He sweetly steps in 
and fills up the deficiency, adding to 
our few lines a whole Paradise of warm 
color, so that the picture is perfected 
in beauty. Whatever, then, be your 
need, my reader, seek its complement 
(i. e., its completement) in Him; and 
as you do so, claim that God your 
Father should fulfill in you the good 
pleasure of His goodness, and the 



1 56 Wbat tbe /IDan can be, 

work of faith with power, teaching 
you what Jesus can be to the soul that 
comes to Him for all. "My God shall 
supply all your need, according to His 
riches in glory by Christ Jesus." "In 
Him ye are made full" (R. V.). 

Are you driven by the wind, "tossed 
with the tempest, and not comforted ?" 
Hide in Him! Get into Him, as the 
bark, strained and leaking, gets with- 
in the shelter of the mole or harbor- 
bar. Look out on the fury of the 
storm from the protecting environment 
of His presence. Often we have been 
hidden from the strife of tongues, or 
the sharp arrows of cruel and unjust 
scandal, in the thought of the love of 
some one for whom we have suffered, 
and one smile from whom has made 
us impervious to the assault. And 
how often have we retired within the 
strong and tender advice or succor of 
some noble, and wealthy, and capable 
friend, making our refuge with him 



UbeHiU5uffictenc£0f3esus- 157 

until certain calamities have passed 
by! And why should we not do this 
with the Man of men, of whom all 
other men are suggestions and hints, 
and partial representations? Why 
should not those words of David fit us 
more literally, and be more frequently 
on our lips? — "The Lord is my rock, 
and my deliverer; my God, my 
strength, in whom I will trust; my 
buckler, and the horn of my salvation 
and my high tower.' 7 

Are you being blinded by the drift 
of the tempest, as it drives the sleet 
of the northern gale, or the dust of 
the southern sirocco into your face? 
Jesus will be a covert from it. Stand- 
ing before you with His face to the 
pitiless blast, He will screen you: "He 
shall cover thee with His feathers, and 
under His wings shalt thou trust; His 
truth shall be thy shield and buckler." 
Remember how of old He went forth 
to meet the bands that entered the 



158 Mbat tbe /Ifcan can be, 

garden, beneath the leadership of the 
traitor, and said of the disciples cow- 
ering behind Him, "if ye seek Me let 
these go their way." so will He fight 
for you, and defend you. The Shep- 
herd shall go before you; and you, as 
His sheep, shall follow, safe from 
harm. 

Are you in a dry place? The Lord 
Jesus knows what it is to be athirst. 
"He came unto His own, and His 
own received Him not." The cry 
with which He expired must have 
been often on His lips, "I thirst." 

Oh, precious human love! of which, 
in His earthly life, the supreme Lover 
knew but little; that out of the expe- 
riences of His own pilgrimage over the 
waterless waste, He might be able to 
supply the thirst of souls. What was 
meant by that Rock, whose streams 
followed the pilgrim host, except that 
Jesus would set forth in parable and 
type His willinghood and ability to 



"HMfce in 1bim," 159 

quench all thirst, and appease the 
fever of desire? Let us cease from 
the labor of hewing out our own cis- 
terns, which soon get exhausted of the 
brackish water which they contain; 
and let us ask of Him to give us to 
drink of those living springs which are 
Himself, and of which, if a man drink, 
he shall never thirst again. 

Are you in a weary land? Listen 
to Him who bids the weary come to 
Him for rest. Sit beneath His shadow 
with great delight. He will give rest 
from the consciousness of unforgiven 
sin; rest from the inward strife; rest 
from conflict with men and things 
around; rest from chafe and fret 
against the will of God. What a con- 
trast there is between the angry surf 
that flings itself on the coral reef, and 
the lagoon of Stillwater; between that 
strong, insect-built wall, and the frail, 
palm-shaded islet which lies within. 
And if the former represent the fret 



160 XKilbat tbe flDan can be- 

of outward circumstance, the other is 
a picture of the calm rest which is ex- 
perienced by the life hidden with 
Christ in God. See how the weary 
caravan hastens to escape from the 
piercing swords of an almost unbear- 
able sunshine, to throw itself down to 
rest beneath the blue shade of a great 
rock, in whose recesses a small frond 
of green here and there betrays the 
presence of moisture and comparative 
cool. So, O weary souls, fling your- 
selves down at the feet of the Man 
who is a High Priest touched with the 
feeling of sorrow, acquainted with 
grief, strong, tender, true, combining 
in His glorious person every attribute 
that can make life blessed, and learn 
how He can be the shadow of a great 
Rock. Breathe His name over and 
over a thousand times a day. Tell 
Him again and again that you choose 
and prefer His will, even though as 
yet you cannot say that you delight in 



Uhc TKTtater ot Xife. 161 

it. Hand over the whole responsibil- 
ity of the things that press you to Him, 
and then by a loving faith claim His 
rest. You may not experience any 
rush of emotion, any tidal wave of 
rapture, any remarkable alternation of 
feeling; but there will steal into you 
a sense of rest, of calm, of peace, as 
when sleep steals over a tired frame, 
and wraps it insensibly in its tender 
embrace. 

May the Holy Spirit unfold to each 
soul that reads these lines that sense 
of the all-sufficiency of Jesus, that 
blessed satisfaction with Him, that 
unbroken fellowship of communion, 
which are the charm of heaven, and 
which tinge earth's experiences with a 
heavenly glory; as dull, leaden clouds 
will gleam in the light of a setting 
or rising sun! 

"Oh, the little birds sang east, the little birds sang 

west; 
And I said, in under-breath, 'All our life is mixed 

with death! 



x6 2 Wbat tbe /IDan can be. 

And who knoweth which is best?' 

Oh, the little birds sang east, the little birds sang west; 
And I smiled to think God's greatness flows around 
our incompleteness: 
Round our restlessness His rest!" 



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with a few lines, he puts a life like and realistic picture 
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